The Will of Fire Still Burns
by dvn88
Summary: When Tragedy striked the Hyuga and leaves the clan in ruins, Hinata finds support from the one person who's always given her strength. But was it an isolated incident or a prelude to something bigger.
1. Birthday Suprise

A clear and starry night hung over the hidden village of konoha. The street lights were on helping guide people on their way home while other, on their way to bars and restaurants with their friends and family. All these people however were oblivious to what was going on at the Hyuga compound.

It was Hyuga Hanabi's 13th birthday.

The compound was alive with it music as the light from the lanterns flickered across the walls and tables decorated with flowers and streamers. Almost the entire clan was in attendance as well as several lords and diplomats from the different lands.

Sitting alone in her bedroom was Hanabi. Though it was her party she had been sent to her room to think about what she had done, but more importantly to her get some space from what was happening outside. While it had been her party she had felt a need to get away, she was used to being surrounded by her clan but was less then pleased with the others. The clan elders had decided that if she was to become clan head she would need a husband and therefore had invited the lords and diplomats in the hope of arranging a marriage. Hanabi, upset at not only the idea of an arranged marriage but also the use of her birthday as a stage to advertise her had voiced her concerns and pleaded with her father to stop them. Hiashi while saying that he would never force either of his daughters into an arranged marriage, he was unable to stop the elders from sending out invitations to possible suitors.

Because of this from the moment the party started she was continuously meeting with people vying to be named her suitor. A handful of them where polite and respectful, these few she didn't mine, her problem was all the others. Some were pleading and begging her to marry them and others were trying to bribe her with money and jewels or the chance to have greater power. The son of one lord who had been unsuccessful in his attempts of winning Hinata's hand tried his luck, and when he was again refused he decided to try and threaten the younger girl. This had been a huge mistake, as as soon as he tried to physically intimidate her she defended herself, delivering a juken shot to his lower region. Hiashi soon had him thrown out but had sent Hanabi to her room at the elders urging for 'acting in a manner unbecoming of a Hyuga.'

So there she was thinking about her father's words when he sent her away. 'Think about what you have done and other ways you could have hit him more discreetly.' She found herself lightly laughing at this as just a few years ago such an action from her would have resulted in harsh punishment, but now he was much more relaxed. Sure he was still strict and outsiders viewed him as cold, but he had become much more open and caring towards the clan.

Thinking about this she looked at the top of her dresser where two pictures stood. The first one was a picture of her father standing proud and happy next to a woman with long midnight black hair and light lavender eyes, her mother. Between them stood a young Hinata with a soft gentle smile on her face. But what meant the most to Hanabi about his picture was what, or rather who her mother was holding. It was Hanabi just a few days old sleeping. It was the only picture of her family before her mother passed away just a few weeks. She couldn't remember her mother; all she could remember was her hard training and cold father. Not wanting to dwell on the past she looked to the second picture had a smiling Hinata in it as well as Neji with one of his rare happy smirks and between them, pulling them closer together in a hug was Hanabi grinning like a Cheshire cat. This had been taken two weeks before as Neji had a long term mission and would miss the party while Hinata would be gone as well but had hoped to be back in time for her party. But she wasn't, the mission had run on longer than expected and she hadn't returned but the picture served as a reminder that they both still cared for her. 'This is how things are now.' She thought 'We've finally a happy family.'

Her train of thought was suddenly broken when she heard loud screaming and shouting coming from the courtyard where the party was being help. Curious to what was happening she slid her bedroom door open to find out what the commotion was about, but was stopped when she found a man dressed in a black cloak blocking her way.

''what's going on, who are you?'' She queried causally eying the lone figure.

The man said nothing and merely grinned before suddenly lunging at her. On instinct she sidestepped his attack and struck out defending herself, quickly striking him in the chest three times before he dropped to his knees and fell face first to the ground. She looked down at the man unsure whether or not he was dead. She had been in combat before but that had only been training and the realisation of what she had just done came crashing down on her.

Panicking she knelt down beside the man to check on his state when a second figure appeared in the doorway. Hanabi sensing someone there quickly regained her nerves and got to her feet ready to defend herself once again when she realised who it was.

Hyuga Daichi, the eldest of the clan elders. He looked from Hanabi to be body on the floor and back again with a look of concern on his face as if trying to figure out what had happened.

''Daichi-Sama he just came at me, I had to defend myself, what's going on outside.'' Hanabi spoke up with a panicked voice as she started to loss her composure.

''We've being attacked, your father is leading the cadet branch to hold them back, he sent me to take you to a safe place.'' He replied as the stern look Hanabi was used to seeing returned to his face, causing her to steel herself from her emotions once more. He then turned around to make his way out of the compound without saying another word with Hanabi following quickly behind him.

As they emerged from a passage at the back of the compound they both suddenly heard more screaming. Concerned for her clan Hanabi stopped and activated her Byakugan, looking to see what was happening.

The courtyard was filled with the dead bodies, most she realised were Hyuga. She couldn't understand how so many of them could have be taken out when she spotted a man dressed just like the one who had attacked her earlier being charged at by three Hyuga's. What she saw next made her pale. Rather than assume a fighting stance he simply raised his arms and made a single hand seal. Instantly the men in front of him fell to their knees, grasping their foreheads screaming in agony before collapsing to the ground. He knew how to activate the curse seal. She quickly scanned the area only to find the same thing happening.

''Daichi-sama they can activate the curse seal, they're using it against them we have to go back and help them.'' She shouted as she tried to run off only to be stopped when someone grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her back and spinning her around to face them.

''What are yo...'' she started to say before being stopped when a fist hit her in the stomach knocking the wind out of her. Doubled over she looked up to see Daichi along with two other men dressed like her attacker glaring down at her

''why?'' she asked as she struggled to breath as tears started to fall but she never got a reply as Daichi struck her on the back of the head knocking her out. Picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder Daichi shared a look with the other two men who nodded to him before the three of them took off across the rooftops.

Moving silently, they leapt from building to building while out of sight of the unsuspecting villagers below them. Making their way towards the great wall Daichi activated his Byakugan, watching for anyone that might be following them as well as checking for anything that might hamper their escape. As they neared the wall he saw someone heading their way and immediately started to panic as he recognised the lone figure. Desperate to avoid a confrontation he changed the group's direction hoping that him being nearby was just a coincidence but he continued towards them. Warning the others they had company they stopped they stopped just before the wall face to face with their pursuer.

Standing before them wearing an orange and black jacket and pants with a flack vest decorated with flames on the back, spiky blonde hair and blue eyes that were staring straight through them was the last person Daichi had wanted to see.

Uzumaki Naruto.

''Where do you think you're going?'' he yelled at them, ''Do you think I'm just going to let you walk out of here?''

''Do you really think that you can stop us all by yourself now? Run along before I separate your head from your shoulders.'' the larger of the two clocked growled back whilst unsheathing a sword from his waist, trying to intimidate him. It didn't have the effect he wanted as Naruto remained with a serious expression on his face.

''Screw him.'' the other man yelled as he pulled a kunai out and charged. As he reached Naruto he struck out driving his blade into his chest as a sick grin appeared on the man's face. ''Should've run kid.'' He laughed only to look on with surprise as the boy in front of him disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared behind him with a kunai to his neck.

''When you fight me, I can number between 1 to 1000.'' Naruto whispered into his ear before pulling the blade across his throat before turning around to face the others, while blood spilled from his opponent as his lifeless body fell to the ground.

Seeing his partner go down the other man cried out in anger, raising his sword above his head and tried to charge only to find he couldn't. Looking down to find out why he couldn't move he saw two hands anchoring him to the ground by his ankles. Before he could understand what was happening he was suddenly pulled into the ground up to his neck. He tried to squirm and wiggle himself but was packed too tightly to free himself when the earth in front of him crumpled away and a silver haired man with a face mask and headband covering his left eye pulled himself out.

Daichi stood shocked seeing this all unfold before him in shock. When he finally regained his senses and tried to make a run it was too late as Naruto appeared before him driving a rasengan into his chest. As the blow connected he reached out with his free arm, grabbing hold of Hanabi as Daichi was sent spiralling back into a nearby building, collapsing the wall on impact.

Shifting Hanabi so she was supported in both his arms he looked down at her checking to make sure she was ok as the once quiet and empty streets were filled with people woken from their sleep and curious as to what had just happened. Some people when back to where they came from after seeing Naruto was involved while others interest picked up even move with the unconscious Hanabi in his arms and the arrival of several ANBU squads. Only finding a few scratches and bruises on her, Naruto looked back up to see Kakashi and a male ANBU in a bird mask approached him.

''How is she?'' Kakashi asked as his single eye looked over the pair before surveying the ever growing crowd for any more threats.

''She looks ok but I'm not a medic, we should get her to the hospital.'' He replied looking at the remains of the building he'd destroyed as two ANBU were through the rubble to retrieve Daichi, as another appeared in a puff of smoke beside Naruto taking Hanabi from him and disappearing the same way he came.

''We've secured the compound and eliminated the threat, these two here are our only prisoners.'' The ANBU with Kakashi finally spoke up motioning to Daichi and his accomplice who was still buried in the ground.

''What about the Hyuga, how are they?''

''Hiashi's at the hospital in critical condition and the party guests are shaken up but most ere unharmed...'' The ANBU replied and then with some sadness in his voice continued ''but I'm afraid the Hyuga clan members did not survive.''

Reacting to this news Kakashi looked at the floor shaking his head while Naruto looked up to into the night sky whispering a single word

''Hinata''

* * *

AN:

Hi so this is my first attempt at writing since I left school and I thought I would explain why I'm writing it as well as provide information about what has happened in my narutoverse leading up to the story.

First I'm a big Naruto fan and I enjoy reading all the different stories that people write, and after reading so many I was attacked by the plot bunnies and decided to write my own. Only problem was I just couldn't think of a good way to start it. So while talking ideas over with a friend he told me about a fic he'd read where the Hyuga clan were killed off leaving just Hinata but never explained how it happened and suggested that I used this as a starting point and see if I could come up with a believable way of doing so, and this is what I came up with. I though it was believable and i hope you do too.

Now some background as far as the story goes.

My story is canon with the manger up to chapter 479.

The war with Akatskuki ended with Sasuke turning on Madera and teaming with Naruto and Killerbee, killing him and destroying the sealing statue making the 8 and 9 tailed beasts the last surviving ones. After the battle Sasuke disappears before Naruto can take him back to Konoha and hasn't been seensince. Danzo also disappeared along with the members of Root becoming missing-nins after his failed coup of Konaha and the other Kage failed.

Tsunada retains the title of Hokage when she recovers promoting Naruto to chunin and later gets promoted again to jonin. Because of the war Naruto while still the happy, goofy kid he can be also became a lot more serious when the situation required so.

The only thing that is different from the manga is that while Hinata did come to Naruto's aid in the battle against Pein she never got the chance to confess to him.

Well I think that everything you need to know. Please review and let me know what you think cause I'm interested in what you have to say good or bad as this is the only way for me to know how I'm doing and how I can improve so read and enjoy

Dvn88


	2. Homeward Bound

The morning was rising into the sky as a warm breeze blew through the forest and the trees provided shade for both people and animals. It was peaceful with birds chirping, the leaves rustling and small animals playing together only to run and hide when hearing an unexpected sound.

"Woof."

Coming down the trail leading two caravans was a boy wearing form fitting pants and jacket, with messy brown hair and strange read markings on his cheeks that liked like fangs. Next to him was a white dog the size of a small horse jumping up and down chasing some butterflies that had strayed across their path.

"Kiba control Akamaru. Remember we are still on a mission." A boy walking besides the first caravan called out. He was wearing a large green and black jacket with its hood up and a high collar covering his mouth and black glasses covering his eyes.

"Relax Shino, if anything happens, me and Akamaru are ready." He yelled back as he started to chase after his dog.

"That may be however we are still on a mission and therefore we are required to show a level of professionalism."

"Aww come on Shino try and lighten up." Akamaru barked in agreement as the two of them turned around and started to race each other back the way they came.

While Kiba was pleading his case about having some fun at the front of the convoy, sitting on the roof of the last caravan sat Hyuga Hinata in her white and lavender jacket and long blue hair flowing behind her in the breeze, her lilac tinted eyes surveying the surrounding area.

She sighed, seeing the area clear. It was meant to be a simple C rank mission to provide protection for a caravan heading to Suna and then the same again for another one heading back to Konaha. The mission had started out so smoothly that they were able to reach their destination a day early without incident. She had hoped that this would mean that they could return home earlier, keeping her promise to Hanabi to be present at her party. This hope was shattered however when the people they were meant to be escorting back home were late arriving at the village. A broken bridge had forced them to take a detour before they finally arrived in Suna and two days later they were finally on their way home.

Looking behind herself she saw a package wrapped in purple paper. She smiled to herself; it was the only good thing to come out of this mission. With all the extra time waiting in the Hidden Sand Village she had gone shopping, looking for the right present to give to Hanabi for her birthday. She had considered getting her more porcelain figures for her growing collection but she couldn't find any stores that sold them. By the last day in the village she had been round nearly all the shops without success and was about to give up and go back to the hotel they were staying in when suddenly she saw just what she was looking for. It was a karaoke machine. Seeing it brought back memories of when Hanabi had joined her to meet up with her friends at a karaoke bar. She had had so much fun singing in front of everyone she would continue to pester her to take her back again, so she bought the machine and several CD's so she could enjoy herself more at home.

Thinking back to that day at the bar she remembered Hanabi dragging her up onto the stage to sing despite of her protests, and then she disappeared to pester one of the boys to join her and make it a duet. Shikamaru though the idea was too troublesome while Choji said he couldn't eat on an empty stomach. Kiba said he was only willing to sing if the song was who let the dogs out only to have Hanabi to shout no in his face. Just when it seemed that she would have to sing alone a fist punched the air and Naruto stood up declaring he wasn't afraid to sing. As they sang some people were covering their ears as Naruto sung loud while Hinata was so quiet that even with the microphone it was almost impossible for her to be heard, her shy nature taking over with so many people's eyes on her. But as soon as she felt Naruto's arm across her shoulders and she looked up to see his blue eyes her confidence grew and by the end of the song she was laughing and smiling with him as the crowd in front of them grew in size and started cheering and applauding.

That was another reason that she couldn't wait to get home again, she wanted to see Naruto. Since that day when the Akatsuki attacked the village and she nearly died while trying to save his life the two of them had grown closer. It had started with a thank you and the promise to treat her to ramen. It had made her day; and while it wasn't a date it was the most fun she could remember having. Since then the two of them started to spend more time together outside of missions. They would spend more time together then they used to when with their other friend as well as spending time together by their selves, whether it was training or relaxing by watching a movie or having something to eat. They had never been so close before, if only she had tried to sacrifice her life to save him earlier she though giggling a little at the stupidity of the idea. She actually had plans to meet up with him when they got back to the village. Naruto had spent a whole day looking for her only to finally find her just as she was about to set off on the mission. He seemed excited with a big grin on his face wanting to tell her something, something important. But in the end he decided that it would be better to tell her when she returned. Her complexion darkened as she thought about all the possible things that he could want to tell her, with her mind lingering on the possibility that he wanted to confess his feelings for her. But that was just her dreaming. Wasn't it?

Sadly she was pulled out of her happy thoughts by the sudden sound of Akamaru's loud barks.

"Guys Akamaru smells someone coming this way fast." Kiba called out to his team mates and brought the caravans to a stop.

"Can you identify who it is yet Kiba" Shino asked as he stepped up front with him as a buzzing sound appeared to start to come from him. To people who didn't know him the noise would seem strange, but to his friends they know it was the sound of his hive ready to defend their home against any attackers.

"No. They're too far out, Hinata what about you?" Kiba called over his shoulder while reaching into his weapons pouch and pulled out a solider pill ready to give him a boost if needs be.

Leaping off the caravan and landing between her team mates. "I'm on it. Byakugan." Suddenly the veins around her eyes became visible as her kekkei genkai was activated and she looked towards the direction Kiba was pointing. There she was three figures.

The first was a small brown dog wearing a blue cape. The second figure was male wearing black a ninja vest and trousers a chunin vest with the symbol of the leaf on the right arm. He had black hair tied in a spiky ponytail that made his head look like a pineapple. Recognising who it was she let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding and spoke.

"It's alright. It's Shikamaru." She then took a look at the final person in the approaching group. Recognising him immediately, her breath was taken away and she found herself unable to speak as she saw the person she had been thinking about just moments ago.

"Who are the other two with him?" Shino asked pushing his glasses up his nose. When Hinata didn't answer him he looked to Kiba.

"One's a dog." He then sniffed the air. "And the other one's..." just then a blur of black and orange skidded to a stop in front of them kicking up a cloud of dust. As the dust settled back down, giving the group the opportunity to see who it was in front of them, one word left Hinata's lips.

"Naruto."

"Naruto what are you doing, you trying to kill us." Kiba yell at him in between coughs.

Looking at the people in front of him he ignored Kiba and made his way towards Hinata.

"Hinata I need you." He spoke so loud it was as if he was making a declaration to the world as he took a hold of her hand.

All the blood in her body seemed to her face as she struggled to breath. He had come all this way just for her. When he took her hand she felt herself swoon. In all the time they had spent together he had never held her hand before. Just when she felt that she might faint she was she was saved by the arrival of a gruff voice.

"Damn it Naruto don't just run off like that. And since when did you get so fast that you could outrun me." The dog asked as Shikamaru finally caught up with them.

"Sorry Pakkun." Naruto said as he turned to face them, reaching back to scratch his neck with a large grin on his face only for it to quickly disappear as he turned back to Hinata. ''But this is an emergency.''

"Naruto you are interrupting our mission. Explain to us what this emergency is." Shino spoke out. He never did like it when someone interrupted him on a mission.

"I'll explain later but for now I'm here to replace Hinata, she needs to go with Naruto." Shikamaru interrupted Shino before he could continue and then gave Kiba a look that made him close his mouth before he said anything.

As this was going on Naruto pulled Hinata close to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Come on Hinata we need to get going back to the village, hold on tight."

The sudden hug she found herself in caused her to feel lightheaded. The only thing keeping her standing besides the strong body she felt against hers was the emergency that apparently needed her. But the close contact still did nothing to help her blush.

Watching this Kiba leaned in close to Shino.

"I bet this is just an excuse for them to spend some alone time together. Did they become a couple and not tell us?" He whispered into his ear with a grin. If Shino said anything back to him he didn't hear it as his curiosity peaked when he saw Naruto put his arms around her and then started to do several hand seals.

As he came to the last few seals he called over to his friend. "See you guys at home." Then in a voice that only Hinata could hear. "I'm sorry."

This broke her out of her daze and she started to lift her head to see his face. "N-Naruto-kun what are you talking..." There was then a large puff of smoke that filled the area and when it cleared Kiba's eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets as his two friends had suddenly disappeared.

"See I told you they just wanted some alone time." He shouted for everyone to hear.

"Be quiet Kiba sometimes you can be too troublesome."

* * *

"About" Hinata finished speaking, looking up but all she could see was smoke. As she looked around trying to work out what had happened a calm breeze blew the smoke away and her eyes widened as she recognised the surroundings. She saw the hokage monument over her shoulder and noticed they were standing outside the Konaha hospital. They had somehow returned to the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Naruto-kun how did we get here?" she ask him in awe.

"Reverse summoning. I learnt it from Fukasaku-sensai when I finished my sage training with him." He looked down smiling at her. It felt good to still be able to surprise in a good way after everything else they had seen him do.

She continued to look around herself still awestruck at what had happened. She then heard his voice again.

"Great it looks like it's going to start raining soon."

She instantly looked up towards the sky, expected to see a darkened sky and clouds but instead it seemed to be a clear blue. It took her a few seconds for her to realise that it wasn't the sky she was looking at, but his eyes that she could spend an eternity looking at. While lost in his eyes her mind tried to work out why he was so close and looking down at her when she suddenly realise she had yet to let go of him after he told her to hold him. Quickly she released him; turning away to look at the sky, and now while she did see the approaching storm clouds all she could think about was trying to hide her blush and just how good it felt to be so close to Naruto.

"Yes N-Naruto-kun it looks like it will rain but what was so important t-that you had to go to such lengths to bring be back" she turned round to face him again her blush almost under control as she asked her question.

He saw her redden face but quickly wrote it off as one of Hinata's weird habits, along with her pressing her fingers together, how she used to faint when she got close to him, and her stutter which was happening less and less now. Over the years he had gotten to know her a lot better but there were just some things that he didn't think he would ever understand. A slight smirk graced his face thinking this before it vanished and was replaced by a solemn look. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, unsure what to say.

"It's best if the hokage explains. Come on, I'll take you to her." He turned from her, then rather then head to the hokage tower like she was expecting he made his was towards the entrance to the hospital.

Unable to ask any questions she ran after him and fell into step beside him as they walked through the doors and made their way to the reception desk.

"Where's the hokage"

The receptionist just waved her hand at him as if trying to brush him off. "Lady Tsunade is busy and does not have time to be disturbed." All the time she spoke she never looked at him instead she continued to dig through the large pile of paperwork in front of her.

"I have orders from Baa-Chan I've brought Hinata to see her." Naruto growled at her as a hint of anger entered his voice, if she had just taken a second to see who was standing infront of her she wouldn't have been so quick to dismiss them.

Looking up over the stacks of paper she found the source of the voice arguing with her and was about to say something back when his words registered and she looked to the person standing next to him.

"Oh I'm sorry Hyuga–sama, I didn't see you." She bowed her head then gave them directions to find the hokage. As Naruto set off up the stairs and Hinata made to follow she stopped when she looked heard the receptionist offer her, her sympathies and saw the same solemn look on her face as she did Naruto's.

She started to make her way up the stairs where Naruto was waiting now with one though going through her mind.

What has happened?

* * *

Well here it is finally chapter 2. I'm sorry it took so long I've had this written in rough for a few weeks, but since I do my drafts at work and I'm too tired or have other things that need to be done when I get home I just never got round to typing it up. On the plus side though chapter 3 is half done in rough and it's looking like it's going to be my longest yet.

I want to say a special thank you to those of you that put me in your favs and alerts. It makes me happy to know that there are actually people out there that enjoy what I'm writing and I hope I can keep you entertained, and please review because I'm willing to listen to your thoughts and suggestions.

Dvn88


	3. Deathbed

The hospital was quiet, quieter then she could ever remember. The only noise she could hear was the laboured breathing coming from the man in his bed and the beeping from the heart monitor that helped to ensure people that he was still alive. The sight of his breath condensing in his oxygen mask only helped assure people of this, even if only for the moment.

She had done everything she could have to help him. He fought valiantly during the attack to protect both his family and the party guests. He had struck down several enemies and the only injury he received was a shallow sword cut on his arm. Unfortunately that was as deadly as being stabbed in the heart as the blade was poisoned.

Thanks to Tsunade's skill she had been able to remove the poison from his system but the damage had already been done. The poison had been so aggressive attacking his heart, lungs and chakra network that the damage was irreversible and it was only a matter of time before his system failed. Many attributed the fact that he hadn't died yet was down to his will power, wanting to see his daughters one last time.

A light knock at the door quickly brought her out of her thoughts. And she called for the person to enter. The door opened and Shizune entered.

"She's arrived Lady Tsunade." She bowed her head, her voice even quieter than normal.

"Good. I guess I should go and try to explain to her what's happened. I want you to stay here and keep watch over him. If anything happens I want to know immediately." Tsunade replied, and then taking one last look at the patient she left the room.

* * *

The silence was unnerving her. After Naruto had demanded to know where the hokage was they had been sent to her hospital office to wait for her. Hinata was sat on a couch at the side of the room deep in thought as she tried to put the pieces together. She kept trying to work out what was so urgent that she would be recalled from a mission but it was proving fruitless as everyone she had seen on her way had either offered their sympathies or remained quiet.

Finally deciding to just wait for the hokage she took her eyes off the floor and looked across the room to where Naruto was sitting in the open window, his figure illuminated by the setting sun. He knew something, of that she was sure. When they had arrived at the office he'd asked her if she wanted him to stay with her or not until Tsunade arrived, to which she quickly said yes to. A part of her wanted to just spend more time alone with him, but mainly she was hoping that he would explain to her what was happening. He didn't. Instead he remained unusually quiet just staring out the window, occasionally looking back in her direction with a look of concern on his face.

As she contemplated asking Naruto again, Tsunade entered her office. Seeing her enter the room she quickly rose to her feet and bowed to the woman before speaking.

"You wished to see me Hokage-sama?"

"Yes Hinata. I don't know what Naruto's told you but I thought it would be best if it was me that told you." The concern in her voice seemed unusual to Hinata. She always thought of Tsunade as both a strong woman and leader, capable of doing whatever she had as well as speaking her mind with ease.

"Naruto hasn't said anything to me Lady Tsunade. Please tell me what's going on?"

"If you don't mind Baa-chan, I think I'll leave you two alone. If you need me I'll just be outside." Naruto finally spoke up. With a nod from the Hokage he quickly glanced at Hinata before making his way towards the door.

"Naruto-kun please stay. You know what's going on please just tell me."

Looking into her eyes he saw the worry and concern she held and he felt as if someone was squeezing his heart, knowing what she was about to be told could devastate her. Looking back to Tsunade who nodded to him he made his way back to his seat at the window.

Once again the room became quiet. Hinata sat fidgeting, waiting to find out what was going on while Naruto and Tsunade contemplated the best way to tell her, their eyes downcast. Finally Tsunade spoke.

"I'm sorry Hinata but there's no easy way of saying this. Your clan was attacked last night."

Hinata stared back at the Hokage in shock the moment she heard this. Her clan, her family had been attacked. As this though raced through her mind she suddenly realised that she had started to shake from the shock of the news. Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "W-what happened?"

"They attacked last night during your sister's birthday party. The attackers were disguised as guests and catering staff."

"Is Hanabi alright?" Worry evident in her voice over the safety of her younger sister.

"She's fine Hinata." Naruto spoke up refusing to look at her. He wanted to help her but he had no idea how. "They tried to kidnap her but me and Kakashi- sensei stopped them before they got out of the village."

He was then forced to grab onto the window frame to stop him falling out the building as Hinata tackled him, burying her head in his chest, her words of thanks for him saving her sister were muffled by his jacket that was becoming wet with her tears.

Overcoming the shock of her sudden actions he wrapped his arms around her holding her close. Feeling his warm strong arms holding her she held on tighter as if afraid to lose the strength he gave her as her tears subsided and she calmed herself down. After staying like this for a while she sat up till she was facing him. "Gomen." She spoke quietly her cheeks tinted a light red.

"T-that's ok" he replied unsure where his sudden stutter had come from as he realised that their faces were just a few inches away. Quickly gaining his composure again he stood up loosening his hold on her and led her back across the room to her seat on the couch catching a box of tissues that Tsunade threw to him.

When sat down again Hinata moved closer to Naruto as she took a tissue from him to dry her tears before she asked her next question. "Why w-were they a-attacked?"

"I'm afraid we don't know yet Ibiki and Inoichi are still interrogating Dachi, so we'll have to wait till I get their report." Tsunade said as she started to look through the different scrolls and papers that she had scattered about her desk.

"Dachi? Do you mean Hyuga Dachi hokage-sama?" the heiress asked confused at the mention of one of the Hyuga elders being held for interrogation.

"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry to say that he played a part in the attack. He was caught kidnapping Hanabi and we also believe that it was with his help that the attack on your clan was success."

"What d-do you mean, he helped with the a-attack?" She asked her eyes never leaving the Hokage as her grip on Naruto's jacket tightened once again.

"From what we can gather he helped to smuggle the attackers into the village and he also..." her voice trailed off, not knowing how she was going to react the next bit of information before she finally said in a quiet voice filled with pain. "He showed them how to activate the caged bird seal."

As quiet as it was spoken Hinata heard each word as if they had been shouted in her ear. She fought to keep the tears back as they welled up in her eyes as she processed what she had been told before asking in a voice that was quieter than normal for her. "They're dead aren't they? They killed my family."

"I'm sorry Hinata." Naruto spoke softly into her ear as he held her close to himself as she latched onto him again, trying to find some form of comfort. Holding her he ran his hands along her back trying to calm her, when her head shot up suddenly from his chest. "Father? What about father?"

She felt Naruto's arms tense around her. "He's... still alive." He replied but hearing him hesitate as well as the way he acted Hinata looked into his blue eyes and spoke the one word he was dreading to say.

"But?"

"He's dying Hinata." Tsunade explained "During the attack someone poisoned him. I managed to remove the poison from his system but I'm afraid it's already caused too much damage to his body. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do." She hated herself. She was supposed to be the world's greatest medic-nin, but in the end all her skill and experience had been proven useless.

The emotion Hinata had been holding back finally became too much as tears began to fall and she sobbed into Naruto's jacket once more.

The room became quiet again with the only sound coming from Hinata crying while held in Naruto's arms. When she started to calm down once more Tsunade spoke.

"This is why we rushed you back Hinata. He doesn't have much time left and we thought that you'd want to see him once more before..." she couldn't bring herself to say the last few words but everyone in the room knew what was implied.

"Please. Take me to him." Hinata asked as she released herself from Naruto's hold and stood shakily to her feet. Tsunade nodded in agreement and after straightening herself up led Hinata out the room who unconsciously was still holding onto Naruto's jacket and started to dray him along with her.

* * *

After leading them through several hallways Tsunade stopped the group outside a lone door flanked by two ANBU guards. Seeing their Hokage they stood to attention but when they saw Hinata they bowed their heads in condolence.

"Your father's in here Hinata, you can go in when you're ready. He's already seen Hanabi but she took seeing him so badly we had to sedate her, she's in the next room down the hall." Tsunade explained to the heiress as she pointed down the hallway to her sister's room which also had ANBU guards waiting outside.

Taking a step towards the door Hinata reached for the handle. Her hand hovered just above it, hesitating before moving away again as if she were afraid she might burn herself.

"Maybe I should go see Hanabi-chan first, or wait till Neji-nii-san returns before I see him."

"Hanabi's asleep." Tsunade explained while placing a hand on the girls shoulder. "And Neji's on a long term mission. Even if he could come back it would take him over a week to do so and by then it'd be too late I'm afraid."

"Well maybe I should wait till Hanabi wakes up then and go in with her." Anxiety could be heard in her voice as she started to tremble.

Naruto, who she hadn't let go of since they left the Hokage's office, noticed her hesitation to see her father and asked.

"Hinata, why don't you want to see your father?"

"I... I..." tears once again started to run down her cheeks as she struggled to speak. "I d-don't want him to s-see me like this. I'm s-supposed to be strong I don't want him to see me w-weak now." While her relationship with her father had greatly improved she still didn't want to disappoint him by showing weakness.

"The way things are Hinata, I don't think he'll mind." Tsunade understood her apprehension, but she also knew that this was most likely the last chance she would get to see her father alive.

"Come on Hinata, I know you're strong" Naruto turned her around so that they were facing each other. "Just take a second to calm your nerves, take a deep breath and go in when you're ready. I'll be waiting out her ok."

Looking into his eyes she started to calm down, not initially listening to what he was saying as she got lost in his eyes. But as soon as she heard him say that he would be waiting outside and she felt his grip loosen her rising panic returned and she gripped onto him so hard that her nails started to dig into his skin.

"No! I can't do t-this. W-will you come with me Naruto-kun?"

"Are you sure you want me to?" He asked back caught off guard by her sudden question.

She nodded her head in confirmation not trusting her voice at the moment.

"Ok then. I'll go with you, and... I'll stay with you as long as you need me." He said after a moment with a small smile on his face which helped to give her strength. And slowly he led her back towards the door and took a hold of the handle. As he turned the handle her nails started to dig into him once again and the look of fear grew as realisation of what awaited her behind the door grew heavier and heavier on her heart.

After what felt like an eternity for her the door finally opened and Naruto led her in, but after a few steps into the room she stopped holding him back. What she saw in front of her was what she had been expecting but the sight of it in front of her still caused her to freeze were she stood.

There lying in the lone bed dressed in a white hospital gown was her father, Hyuga Hiashi. He looked as if he was asleep but his brow was creased with sweat rolling down his face. Beside him was a medic cleaning his face. Setting the cloth into the bowl beside her she turned around to face them and Hinata immediately recognised her as the Hokage's assistant Shizune.

"How's he doing Shizune?" Tsunade asked over Hinata's shoulder as she gently pushed her further into the room so she could get in herself and closed the door behind herself.

"I'm afraid he hasn't improved Lady Tsunade. His vitals have been slowly dropping; I don't know who long he'll last." She looked across to Hinata with a look of sorrow, while Hinata had a look of a lost child.

"There is some good news though my lady." Shizune continued. "Lord Hiashi, he's..."

"Awake." A new voice echoed across the room and everyone turned towards the bed to see Hiashi staring back at them. He tried to sit himself up but his arms gave out under him and he fell back into the bed. Gathering around him quickly the medic-nins present quickly made him comfortable supporting his back with pillows and helped him have a drink of water to help his dried throat before moving back to give him some space.

Rolling his head to remove the cramps he motioned for Hinata to come closer. Slowly she approached the bed and took the seat next to his bed, Naruto whose hand she had finally let go of stood behind her.

"How are you Otou-sama?"

A small smile graced his lips that caught her off guard. She could only remember a few times when she had seen him smile but even then it was always in the privacy of the Hyuga compound and would only be there for a split second before being replaced with his usual stonic stare.

"I am as well as can be expected considering the circumstances daughter."

"Is there anything I can do for you Otou-sama?"

The smile on his face grew as she said those words. "No there is not but I do wish to hear how you are doing."

She was silent. It was not something she was expecting to be asked, but the true answer was something she felt her father would be displeased with so she did the only thing she could think of. Lie.

"I-I am fine Otou-sama." She wanted to speak in a strong voice to hide the fact she was lying but when the words left her lips only sorrow could be heard.

The fact she was a terrible liar didn't help either.

The smile on her father's face instantly vanished. "Do not disrespect me Hinata by lying to me."

She cringed at his words as he turned to face the other people who had been waiting quietly in the room.

"Leave us. I wish for us to speak in private." Regardless of his condition the tone of his voice left no room for arguing, but when Hinata grabbed a hold of Naruto's jacket as he turned around to leave he decided he would try arguing anyway.

"I'm staying."

A gasp came from Shizune while a vain appeared on Tsunade's forehead both of whom had stopped halfway out the room. While they knew Naruto could be stubborn, neither of them expected him to refuse a request from a dying man.

"Would you please explain why you refuse to leave us alone?" Hiashi asked giving him a stern look that in the past had sent both enemies and allies running in fear.

"I'll only leave if Hinata wants me to. I promised her I'd be here if she needed me and I don't go back on my word." He stood straight with his arms crossed across his chest, as if daring Hiashi to challenge him.

Hinata felt weak and disappointed in herself. Had it been anyone else she would have told them she was ok and try to deal with the situation alone. But it wasn't just anyone it was Naruto, and she wanted him to stay. With him beside her she felt that just maybe, she'd have the strength to continue.

"Please Otou-sama I... I would like him to say." Her voice was quiet but everyone heard her.

Another expression that people rarely ever say appeared on the Hyuga heads face, a smirk. But it wasn't one of arrogance, but one of humour. And then something else no one expected happened.

He laughed.

It started as a small quiet chuckle but quickly grew in to full blow laughter. Everyone stood looking at him in amazement as if he was doing the impossible which in their minds he was. Never had so much emotion been seen coming from such a normally stonic man.

Their shock was quickly turned to worry when he suddenly started to uncontrollably cough and the Hokage and her assistant quickly crossed the room to make sure he was alright.

"No. I'm ok." He said waving them off as he eventually brought his cough under control. "He may stay if you wish him to then. Now the rest of you please leave us."

"We'll be outside if you need us just call." Tsunade spoke taking one last look at the occupants in the room and the monitor beside the bed showing Hiashi's stats before leaving the room with Shizune quickly behind her.

Getting comfortable in his bed once again as he motioned for Hinata to come closer to him. Hesitantly she pulled her chair closer to his bed while Naruto left her side to sit in the window at the other side of the room as the room became silent.

"I'm sorry daughter."

She processed what was just said. There were many things she was sure he would want to talk about, but she wasn't expecting an apology. "Why... Why are you apologising Otou-sama."

"I'm sorry for the way I treat you when you were younger. When..." He took a deep breath as the memories came back to him. "When your mother died I wasn't sure how to cope. So I buried myself in dealing with the clan. I tried to make the clan stronger to hide the fact that I felt so weak. And that's why I pushed you. A strong clan needed a strong heir so I did everything I could to make you that."

She remembered all the long lessons in equity, diplomacy and clan laws as well as the even longer, harder and painful sessions in how to use the gentle fist. Just the thought of this caused her to wince and wrap her arms tightly around herself as if trying to protect herself from her painful past. Hiashi saw this but continued on.

"But you would stumble and stutter and you seemed incapable of mastering even the basics of our fighting style. So when I finally felt you were no longer up to the task as heir I simply pushed you away and focused on your sister. I mistreat you because I felt you were weak."

She felt the tears burn in her eyes again. She had hated herself for her past weaknesses. They had had this talk in the past and she had though these problems had been settled between them. But hearing him voice her past failures made her feel as if she was 12 years old again.

"But eventually you proved me wrong. All I ever saw was your weak body. I never realised that under it you held such a strong spirit." The smile returned to his face again. "The same spirit as your mother. Kami you'll never know how much you're like her." A lone tear ran down his cheek as he opened up to his daughter thinking all the opportunities he'd missed as well as the similarities between his eldest daughter and late wife.

Before she realised what she was doing Hinata had risen from her chair and wrapped her arms around him giving him a hug. Hiashi tensed up under her embrace, while they had grown closer to each physical contact between them rarely occurred, and feeling him stiffen she quickly tired to pull away unsure of how he would react. She was pleasantly surprised however when she felt him wrap his own arms around her and relaxed into his embrace.

"I know I've said this all before to you but I really am sorry for the way I treat you. I can never make up for everything I put you through in the past, but I had hoped I could try to make it up to you in the future." The smile on his face faulted knowing what he would miss. "I wanted to see you grow up to become clan head and then see both you and Hanabi find yourself a husband and have children."

By this point Hinata had released herself from her father and had turned away, facing the door so that she could hid the blush that appeared as she thought about her choice of husband. Meanwhile Hiashi's eye wandered over to Naruto who was watching his daughter.

"Naruto."

The blonde who'd been thinking about his own future when he heard Hiashi mentioned marriage, quickly snapped out of his thoughts and turned to face the man in the bed. "Hai Hiashi-sama?"

"I also wish to apologise to you as well for the way you were treat when you were younger. While I never did anything to you myself, I never stopped others when I saw them and that makes me just as responsible for your pain as them."

This was something new for Naruto. He knew of people who had mistreated him in the past and later changed the way they acted towards him. But very few had actually apologised to him, most preferred to pretend noting had ever happened.

"Despite what you've been through you have grown up to become a strong and honourable man just like your father and I'm sure he would be proud." Seeing the look of astonishment on his face from the compliments Hiashi continued. "I also want to thank you for... helping make our clan better." His voice seemed to lose strength at the mention of the clan. "After your match with Neji, your actions in the fight highlighted the problems we had and helped us to start to become a family again. Over time we became both closer and stronger because of your actions."

"It was no problem. Hinata's one of my precious people and id do anything to help make them, and make sure they're safe and happy." He felt silly being thanked for helping someone as he gave the other two people in the room a wide but sincere smile. To him helping people came as natural as breathing.

Regardless of everything that had been happening, when Hinata saw his smile she couldn't help but return it with one of her own before she hid her face again. Naruto just seemed to always bring out the best in her regardless of the situation.

"Naruto I have a request for you." The serious voice of Hiashi cut through the room, getting everyone's attention especially the mentioned blonde who looked at him curiously.

"Sure what is it?"

"The village law states that Hinata is unable to assume the role of clan head until she reaches the age of 21. Though there isn't a clan to lead anymore." The last part of his statement was mumbled quietly, but the two teens listening to him could hear the pain and regret of the loss of life in his voice.

"Therefore both she and Hanabi will be made by the village elders to be cared for by a guardian until Hinata is old enough to inherit her birthright."

"That stupid Hinata's old and capable enough to take care of herself." Naruto retorted but he was interrupted before he could say anymore.

"I wish for you to be their guardian."

Hearing this he opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. The only thing he was able to do was a very convincing impression of a fish, while Hinata looked between the two men in shock that her father would ask of such a thing.

"As you said Hinata is fully capable of taking care of both herself and her sister. But the village elders will simply not acknowledge her as a clan head because she's female"

"Why can girls only do so at 21 while boys can at 13?" Naruto asked confused. It made no sense to him Sarutobi Konohamaru had turned 13 a year earlier had been offered his clans seat. This had been the elder's way of telling him he was officially recognising as the head of the Sarutobi clan. He refused the offer however saying that he wasn't ready for such responsibility yet.

"I'm afraid its double standards. While most clans wait till their heirs are 18, there's an old law from when the village was first founded that said no female could become clan head until the age of 21. I honestly don't know why this is the case and previous attempts in the past to change this law have always failed." Hiashi explained to Naruto who by the look on his face didn't look pleased with his answer.

There was a moment of silence as Naruto though about the request before he spoke again.

"What would I have to do as their guardian?"

"There is very little you have to do. As you said Hinata is fully capable of taking care of herself and her sister." Both teens smiled at this acknowledgement. "Officially people will expect you to make the decisions as if you were the clan head."

"But." Naruto tried to say only to be interrupted.

"But I believe you can leave that to Hinata and act as her adviser instead and be her voice in the council meetings. Outside of clan matters I just want you to make sure that they stay safe."

"So basically you want me to pretend that I'm in charge and make sure they stay safe and help them if they need it?"He asked, searching Hiashi's face for confirmation.

"That is correct."

The blonde smiled widely and he started to laugh as all eyes in the room turned to him trying to understand what he found so funny. After he recovered from his laughing fit he decided to explain why he was laughing.

"Gomen. I didn't mean to laugh, but it just seems funny what you're asking me to do."

Hinata hid a small smile caused by Naruto's actions behind her hand. She had a fairly good idea what he meant. Hiashi meanwhile continued to look on confused.

"Would you care to explain?" he asked before he started coughing.

Waiting till he calmed down Naruto spoke. "It's just..." he stood up leaving his seat at the window and moved around the bed till he stood beside Hinata and draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her into a friendly hug which still caused her to blush. "Well you're asking me to do something that I'd do for any of my friends without being asked so it just seems silly really."

The two men then continued to talk to each other about the finer points of what he would have to do and Hinata would reply when spoken to but for the most part she remained quiet. She barely even heard them talk as she became lost in Naruto's warm embrace with thoughts of what it would be like to have him more involved in her life ran through her head.

She quickly snapped out of her daydream when she heard her father say something about suitors.

She looked around the room in an attempt to try and pick up the conversation and was about to ask when there was a light knock and the Hokage poked her head around the door.

"Sorry to intrude but I just wanted to check and see how you're doing."

"I am fine." Hiashi answered as Tsunade to check him over. "I actually wanted to speak to you about an important matter."

She stopped her checks and gave him a curious look as she waited for him to speak again.

"I wish to formally make Uzumaki Naruto the legal guardian of my daughters till Hinata comes of age where she can lead the Hyuga clan." He declared to everyone who was listening before he broke out into another coughing fit.

Tsunade stared back at him with a shocked expression on her face. Maybe she had heard him wrong. She considered the man before her to confirm her mistake but she found no answers. Hiashi just stared right back at her as he normally would, with a look in his eyes that told her she had heard right and he was serious.

Her eyes left the clan head to her fellow blonde who smiled back at her, proud it seemed that someone that someone would trust him with something so important without him being the last hope for the village or the child of prophecy.

Her eyes bounced between the two men like a ball in a tennis match as she continued to process the new information before her eyes finally rested on the heiress, resting her head on Naruto's shoulder, eyes watching him with a light blush on her cheeks.

Looking back to Hiashi in his bed she flashed him a quick smile before finally speaking.

"You sure you want this gaki to be responsible for your children?"

"Hey!" Naruto yelled as he stood face to face with the Hokage and locked eyes with her, silently challenging her to say it again. Tsunade raised her hand up with a single finger pointing up, her own challenge that she could beat him with one finger just like the fight they had when they first met. A challenge he was always ready to accept.

But not this time.

Instead he broke eye contact with the woman in front of him when he felt someone tug on his sleeve and he looked down to see Hinata looking back. The look of concern for his safety she gave him froze him in place. Taking a deep breath he moved away from the woman making his way back to his seat on the window ledge while mumbling an apology.

Tsunade stared at him in surprise with her mouth hanging open. She knew that with Naruto and Hinata's close relationship they had helped to make each other better but she never realised that Hinata was able to calm him down like she did. Sakura would normally have to hit him in the head to defuse such a situation.

Her attention went back to the man in the bed as he cleared his throat and she was confused again by the look on his face. It was somewhere between annoyance and amusement after watching the scene before him. When he was sure he had everyone's attention he spoke again.

"While he can be a 'gaki' as you call him, he is still a strong and honourable ninja who cares for anyone he deems precious to him and would be willing to do anything for them even at the risk of his own life. That is the sort of person I want looking out for my daughters." He said giving a small nod to Naruto, then in a voice that only Tsunade could hear he added. "I also have a feeling that this may be especially true in the case of Hinata."

The smile on her face bigger as her voice became playful.

"You know the way you make it sound, it's almost as if you'd be willing to have the knucklehead marry your daughter."

In the split second that followed the two teens caught each other's eyes once again before they both looked away. Hinata stared at her feet, her face as red as a tomato. She knew people knew about her feelings for the blonde, but for someone to mention something she'd spend nights dreaming about, and in front of her father she felt completely embarrassed.

Naruto however had turned away with such force to hide his own darkened face that he leant against the closed window, unaware that it was unlocked. With his full weight behind it the window swung open as he fell backwards. He gave a short yell of panic as he frantically grabbed a hold of the ledge.

Hearing the sudden noise Hinata looked up and the colour drained from her face as she saw him disappear out the window. Jumping to her feet she quickly ran to him, grabbing his hand trying to pull him back in as he dangled outside.

While the scene unfolded before them Tsunade moved closer to Hiashi. "You know don't you?" she whispered for his ears only.

The sides of his lips curled up as he watched his daughter drag the boy she loved back into the room only for him to pull her into a hug thanking her. "Yes I am aware though I'm not too sure that they both realise it yet." As he spoke the two teens seemed lost in their conversation, forgetting that there were other people in the room. As Hiashi tried to listen to them he heard Naruto compliment Hinata, telling her that she always seemed to be there when he needed help.

Sharing one final look between then Tsunade moved back from the bed as Hiashi decided it was time for the other two to settle down.

"Are you both finished yet?"

They both quickly looked towards him suddenly remembering where they were as their faces darkened in embarrassment.

"Hai."

"Hai Otou-sama"

Hinata returned to her chair at her father's bedside while Naruto stood just behind her, deciding that he'd tempted fate enough for today.

"Good." Tsunade spoke calmly as soon as they had settled down. "As Hokage I will recognise Uzumaki Naruto as the guardian of Hyuga Hinata and Hanabi. I'll get someone to bring the paperwork over immediately for you to sign to make it official."

Seeing her take a deep breath Naruto quickly tried to cover his ears but was too late as in a voice so loud people sleeping in Suna were woken up she yelled a single name.

"Shizune."

Naruto was sure he saw the walls vibrate as Hinata covered her ears to protect herself. Hiashi however never even flinched at the sudden of volume showing the control and composure that he was known for as the Hyuga clan head.

Meanwhile hurried footsteps could be heard approaching down the hallway. The noise became louder and louder until it reached the door and Shizune ran into the room skidding to a stop with Tsunade's pet pig Tonton closely following behind.

"You called my lady?" she asked between pants.

Naruto lent over Hinata's shoulder to whisper in her ear. "If that's calling I'd hate to be around when she shouts." A small giggle escaped her lips as Tsunade quickly turned to look at them after hearing the comment, but all she saw was the two of them looking back at her with straight faces. Eyeing them suspiciously she turned back to address Shizune, never seeing Naruto stick his tongue out at her or Hinata hold back another burst of giggles.

"I need you to get me a copy of guardianship forms and bring them back here as quickly as possible."

"Does this mean Lord Hiashi has chosen someone Lady Tsunade?"

"Yes. Hiashi in all his wisdom has decided that the future of the Hyuga should be left in the... Um, capable hands of Naruto." She said with a small amount of sarcasm, since she still found the idea funny.

Shizune turned to face the man in the bed, stunned by his choice of guardian.

"Are you sure? I mean I believe in him but is he really the best choice for this? Wouldn't someone like Kurenai be better suited?"

Naruto sweat dropped. "Does no one have any faith in me?"

"I have faith in you Naruto-kun." Hinata said shyly over her shoulder as he smiled back, his spirits lifted thanks to her few words.

"I assure you I've thought about this very carefully. While I believe Yuhi Kurenai would be a good choice for the role, she now has her own child to look after who will take up much of her own time." Hiashi spoke ignoring the outburst. "And while Naruto may be rough around the edges I am sure he'll do what's in the best interests of my daughters. Also dealing with our clan's politics should help him with his other new role."

Hinata looked at her father confused by his last comment but chose not o question it while Shizune turned on her heels and quickly left the room. She returned ten minutes later with the paperwork and acting as a witness she watched Naruto and Hiashi sign them.

Tsunade then took the form and gave it a final check before applying her seal. "It's done." Hiashi said before breaking into another coughing fit which caused Hinata to check on him once again.

"Yes it is. I just hope you realise how serious your responsibilities are." Tsunade said as she placed the paperwork safely into her robe.

"Look I know I've done some stupid things in the past but when it's something important I always take it seriously." He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. They might be saying that they trusted him but that wasn't the impression that he was getting from them at the moment.

"Since the matter of my daughters guardian has been sorted, I wish to speak with Hinata alone now." Hiashi said his voice hoarse from coughing.

Shizune left the room while Tsunade tried to lead Naruto out with her but he refused to move. Instead he looked at Hinata asking her a silent question, an act Hinata couldn't help but smile at for everyone to see.

"Thank you Naruto-kun but I'll be fine. "She said shaking her head. As she was about to turn around to face her father once more a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close. Caught by surprise she looked up to stare into a pair of beautiful blue eyes that told her he would always help her. Relaxing she rested her head on his chest while he rested his onto of hers.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to her.

Determined to stay strong in front of her father she rubbed her face in his chest to wipe away her tears as she wrapped her own arms around him tightly, thanking him once again.

After a few moments they finally parted and with a nod to each other she watched Naruto leave the room.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself she turned to her father and went back to her seat, waiting for him to speak.

At first he just watched her as if sizing her up before he finally spoke.

"He's important to you isn't he."

This wasn't what she was expecting. She though he wanted to talk about upholding the clans honour and traditions of the clan or how she and her sister would have to repopulate the clan. While she was glad she wasn't asked the latter she still wasn't expecting this.

"H-he's important to me?" she repeated the question making sure she heard correctly while at the same time cringing on the inside for stuttering. She tried to think of an answer she pressed her index fingers together as her father continued to look at her, waiting.

"Yes Otou-sama he is important to me."

"How so?" instantly she answered the question.

'_He's the person I admire the most. He's the person who helped me feel strong when I felt weak. He's the person I'd die to protect just as he would for me. He's the person that I love.'_ But despite all these thoughts she couldn't muster the courage to tell her father.

"He's...He's one of my p-precious people just as I am one of his." She finally answered.

Hiashi started to chuckle and shook his head. "That's not answering my question."

"He is important to me." She finally said. "When I was younger he was everything I wanted to be. He was strong and confident. He never let what people said about him hold him back, if anything it would make him more determined and when he failed he always got back up to try again. When I had to face Neji-nii san in the chunin exams I was so afraid and unsure of my skills I was ready to forfeit." She looked up to her father, a smile on her face and her eyes shining with happiness. "And then I heard his voice. He told me to ignore what Neji was saying, that I was strong and I could beat him." She laughed to herself as she remembered him getting annoyed of Naruto acting as her personal cheerleader. "He gave me the confidence to see the fight through and even though I lost I felt better about myself thanks to him."

Hiashi remained quiet as he listened to her. While they had become closer this was the first time she had truly opened up to him. As she spoke he noticed the smile never left her face.

"When he left with Jiraiya-sama to train I was so upset to see him leave, but I made myself a promise. I promised myself that I would get stronger so I could stand by his side instead of watching him from the shadows when he returned. To cheer him on when he succeeded and help him up when he got knocked down. I want to always be there for him... Because I love him."

Her gaze reverted back to the floor as she said the last few words so quiet that they were almost unheard.

Almost.

"If that is how you truly feel about him why do you not tell him?"She looked out the window, watching as the rain started to fall.

"Because I'm still not strong enough. Even though he lets me stand by his side I'm still not worthy of him."

"Says who?"

She looked back at her father and saw that his eyes, rather than being hard and cold like they had in the past were soft and caring.

"You've made great progress over the past several years. You have more than proven yourself as a ninja as well as a loyal friend to Naruto. When you stood alone against Pein to protect him is more than enough proof of that."

He stopped to give his daughter time to tale in what he had said before he continued.

"As for your feelings for him... telling him is a leap of faith that must always happen when it comes to matters of the heart. All you can do is be truthful and hope that he's able to reciprocate your feelings."

"But what if..." she started but was stopped when she saw the weary look on her father's face. The mask he'd been wearing to hide the pain he was going through had finally slipped showing her just how much pain he was going through.

"Hinata, I want you to do something for me." He said between coughs, his breathing becoming laboured.

She nodded back, unable to speak as she saw just how much pain he was in.

"If your feelings for him are true and he is what you want for your future you must tell him. Take your time and wait till your ready but you must tell him. If you don't, you will only live to regret it." His voice became weaker and weaker with each word he spoke.

"H-Hai Otou-sama. I am sure about him and... And I will tell him." She said, speaking with as much conviction as she could muster. But while she was certain in what she wanted she was unsure if she would ever have the courage to do it.

* * *

"I've just realised something."

Tsunade looked across the room to the boy that had just spoken. It had been nearly an hour since they had left the Hyuga head and heiress alone. Shizune had been called away to help in the hospital, and after checking on Hanabi, Tsunade had returned to wait with Naruto outside the hospital room.

"Go on then gaki I'll bite."

A vain appeared on his forehead caused by her comment but decided to ignore it.

"I think I'd rather be stuck in a hospital bed then waiting out here."

"You would rather be in a hospital bed? Ever since I've know you, we've had to sent out search parties to find you because you're always sneaking out." She said as she unsuccessfully tried to hold back her laughter.

"Well if you'd just give me ramen instead of that disgusting stuff that you masquerade as food, then maybe I wouldn't have to sneak out." He pouted, unhappy that she found his insight so funny.

"That's because." The Hokage started as she brought her laughter under control. "When you're in hospital you never listen to us when we tell you to rest, you're always active trying to escape. But when you're visiting you can't do anything but wait and provide support and keep the patient company."

Naruto nodded along in agreement to this as Tsunade thought of something else.

"Or in your case you're here to help the person visiting the patient."

It was true. He barely knew Hiashi, so he doubted he would appreciate sharing a room with him as he tried to make conversation. All he could do was keep his promise to look after his daughters. He could however help them especially Hinata.

After the Akatsuki invasion and war with Madara the two had spent a lot of time together and learnt a lot about each other. While he still couldn't understand why she would only ever blush or stutter around him (something that he noticed was happening less and less) he did know that regardless of the past, she still cared deeply about her family.

This was why he set off to find her before Tsunade even gave the order, forcing Shikamaru to play catch up. To him Jiraiya was like a grandfather and it still hurt him to think that he never got the chance to say goodbye to him before he died. If Hiashi couldn't be saved he was going to do everything he could to give her the opportunity he never had. He would do whatever he could to help her.

"Your thinking about her again, aren't you?"

"What?" he asked as he looked back towards his fellow blonde.

"You're thinking of Hinata. Every time you do you get a look in your eye, and that smile. It's... different. She's more than just a friend to you, isn't she?"

"I've... I've got no idea what you're talking about." He said his cheeks heating up. Tsunade wasn't the first to think there was more going on between the two of them. But they were just friends, close friends but just friends. Right?

Before Tsunade could say anymore they hear footsteps approaching from down the hallway and both looked to see who it was. It turned out to be Shizune returning from her duties but what confused Tsunade was that she was who she was talking to. Naruto.

She looked to the seat in front of her to see if Naruto had just ran off to meet her but he was still sat there in his chair. She looked back towards the approaching pair to make sure she wasn't seeing things but the blonde was still walking besides the assistant.

"Here you go boss." The new Naruto called as he threw a bottle of water that was caught by his double before he suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She felt like banging her head into a brick wall for not realising what had happened quicker.

"When?" She asked.

"When what?" he asked back confused.

"When did you make the kage bunshin?"

"Oh that. I did it when you had to go deal with those doctors earlier. I was thirsty but I didn't want to leave in case Hinata needed me so I sent the bunshin instead." He said as he took a mouthful of his drink. "It ran into Shizune on the way back and decided to keep her company."

"You know some people envy your ability to make so many bunshin's to do your jobs for you." She herself was one of them. If only she had the chakra capacity she could have the bunshin's do her paperwork, leaving her more time for other important things. Like drinking sake.

"How's Hyuga-sama's condition Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked.

"I'm not sure. I haven't heard anything from them since we left. I should probably go and check on them." She said as she made to stand up.

"It's ok. I'll go." Naruto said as he made his way to the door, taking another mouthful of water. "If they need you guys I'll come back and get you. I wanted to check on Hinata anyway"

As he opened the door he missed the look shared between the two older women, both wondering if he would ever realise just how much he cared for the girl. Both were broken out of their thoughts though when they heard cursing coming from the room.

As they quickly entered the room to investigate what had happened only to catch a glimpse of orange as Naruto leapt out the open window into the dark rainy night. As they looked around the room they noticed two important things.

The first was the still form of Hiashi resting in his bed, his eyes closed and a peaceful look on his face. The heart monitor next to him, while strangely silent showed no heartbeat, letting everyone know that the strong and proud leader of the Hyuga clan had passed away.

The second was no doubt the reason for Naruto's sudden disappearance. There was no one else in the room. Hinata was missing. The only proof that she had even been there was her jacket folded over the back of the bedside chair.

As Shizune covered Hiashi's still form with a sheet Tsunade made her was to look out upon the village. The sky was dark and the rain was falling at full force as if to try to wash away the memories of the past few days away. As she watched the people below her try to stay dry all she felt was sorrow. Sorrow for the pain caused. Sorrow for the lives lost. But even more so she felt sorrow for the girl who had spent most of her life fighting for her family's acceptance only to lose them.

* * *

AN

In this chapter I wanted to try and show how the relationships between Naruto, Hinata and Hiashi had developed. With Hiashi I wanted to portray a man who, while having a better relationship with his daughter still at times has trouble showing affection. And with Naruto and Hinata I wanted to show how close they've become as well as how they affect each other. I hope I've been able to show that.

Dvn88


	4. Rain Of Sorrow

Run

The only though that crossed her mind was run.

She wasn't sure why she was running. Was it because her otou-san had died or the fact she couldn't do anything to save him.

She knew the answer was both, but she knew she wanted to run the moment her otou-san had made that request. To be asked to do such a thing scared her beyond belief and when he finally passed on she panicked and jumped out the hospital window, into the rain.

Once away from the hospital she realised she'd left her jacket behind but she didn't care. She didn't care about the wind whipping against her skin or the rain making her clothes stick to her. All she wanted to do was put as much as much distance between herself and the hospital.

Her feet pounded the ground as she ran past bars and restaurants filled with customers. Seeing a man leaving a restaurant with two young children talking and laughing she looked away. Seeing the three of them together was a painful reminded of not only what she'd missed out of as a child, but also what she would now never have wither her otou-san. With more determination she left them behind, never noticing one of the little girls innocently pointing at her ask her father why she was running in the rain without a coat on.

As the rain continued to fall she reached up to clear the water from her eyes as her vision blurred, failing to notice a man stumble out of a bar until it was too late and they collided. Her ninja instincts kicking in, she caught herself before she hit the ground and continued running, never missing a step. The drunkard however was not so fortunate. After bumping into Hinata he fell back into the bar he came from, spilling several people's drinks causing a fight to start.

Normally if she bumped into someone she would stop to apologise and check on them to make sure they were ok. But the thought never crossed her mind. All she wanted to do was run.

She had no idea how long she'd been running before she finally slipped on the wet ground and fell at an intersection on the outskirts of the village. Trying to stand up she fell back down onto her knees, her adrenalin rush finally wearing off. Without the energy to stand, she looked around to try and work out where she was.

The roadside was surrounded by wooden fences with a single old oak tree on the corner. It was the place her team would meet before they would leave to go missions. A small smile appeared on her face realising this as she wondered why she had chosen to run there, before it quickly disappeared again. It didn't matter why she ran there. All she wanted to do was get as far away from the pain as possible.

Shaking her head she looked up into the sky as she let the rain continue to fall down on her. As the rain fell on her face, mixing with her tears, she hoped it would help wash the pain away.

A hope she knew would not come true.

* * *

"This is ridiculous." He grumbled to himself for his inability to find her.

When he'd entered the hospital room the first thing he'd noticed was the still form of Hiashi, and while he hadn't checked him, he was sure he was dead. The next thing he noticed as well as the most alarming was the absence of Hinata and the open window. Worried about her safety, and knowing that she hadn't left through the door he leapt out the window to find her.

He wasn't sure why she was missing. She could have runaway after her father had died. Maybe seeing him pass away was too much for her so she ran away afraid. He hoped this was the case because the other option was much worse. She could have been kidnapped. Maybe they'd missed someone from the previous attack and they had come back to finish the job. They could have snuck in through the window, finished off Hiashi and carried off Hinata.

At the thought of this Naruto increased his pace. If that was the case the enemy had been able to do all this without making any noise to alert those outside the room, and left no sign of a struggle. These were all the signs of a highly skilled ninja.

Common sense told him he should have gone to Tsunade for help to find her, especially if she had been kidnapped, but he ignored it. Hinata was missing and he wasn't going to just wait around and do nothing. If she had been kidnapped she needed help and he always helped his friends.

All Naruto cared about was finding Hinata.

_'When she wants to talk to someone she goes to Kurenai, but I think she's on a mission. When she wants comfort food she goes to get cinnamon rolls. Argh, but all the bakeries will be closed at this time. But if she was kidnapped they'd head straight out the village. Or maybe they'd try going back to the Hyuga compound since that Dachi guy was helping them.' _All these thoughts and more ran through his head as he frantically tried to figure out where Hinata might be.

As soon as he'd left the hospital he'd created several kage bunshin's to help in his search but they'd been no help. Those bunshin's that had dispersed only told him that they'd found nothing, and he knew that if any of them were able to find her they wouldn't disappear to tell him. They would stay with her, so she wouldn't be left alone.

As he passed one of the village's many bars he saw a group of guards leading several people away. Naruto stopped to ask them if they had seen Hinata or anything suspicious in the area. Shaking their heads they said no, saying they'd been too busy breaking up bar fights all night but they would spare whoever they could to help him look. Thanking them he took off once more leaving the drunken rabble behind, never noticing a man lying in the gutter singing a song to anyone who'd listen about drinking sake, bar fights and the girl with dark blue hair that started it all.

20 minutes since the start of his search, the night had become darker as the rain fell harder. With each passing second he became more and more concerned over Hinata's safety till finally the worry became too much for him to bear. Stopping in the middle of the street he shouted at the heavens, cursing them for everything that had happened. Standing in the dim light of a single lamp post he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Feeling slightly calmer he raised his hands in front of him in a familiar seal as he prepared to make more kage bunshin's to help in the search when there was a sudden rumble of thunder and moments later a flash of lightning lit up the sky, as if the heavens were replying to his outburst.

He stopped casting his jutsu and quickly looked around the area again, sure he had heard something. Looked in the direction he thought he heard the noise all he could see was the wet road running off into the distance before being eaten by the darkness of the night. Giving up on the mystery noise he prepared his jutsu again when a second bolt of lightning flew across the sky illuminating the area for a split second. And he heard the noise again.

It was the sound of someone screaming.

He looked for the source of the scream once more and with the help of the brief light provided by the lightning he saw the form of someone sitting in the middle of the road ahead of him. As it faded into the darkness Naruto advanced on it, to find out if the person was ok. As he got closer he realised the person was a young woman with long, dark, wet hair sticking to her back. Another lightning flash caused her to scream again and he broke out into a sprint as he saw her white, lilac tinted eyes and he instinctively knew who it was.

"Hinata."

* * *

Her breath caught in her throat at the sound of his voice and she looked around herself for the source, despite the stinging pain in her eyes caused by her crying. Coming towards her out of the darkness was the unmistakable orange and black clad form of Naruto.

He'd come to find her. He cared enough to go out into the storm and find her. Any other time she would have been grateful of his actions, but at the moment she didn't want to see him. She just wanted to do was run away. As he coming closer, her instincts to run kicked in again and she struggled to stand up on shaky legs and turned to run away. She took two steps however before her legs gave out under her and she tumbled to the floor once more.

The moment she hit the floor Naruto was by her side, trying to make sure she was alright.

"Hinata. Hinata are you o.k.?" He asked as he looked her over for any signs of injury, but unable to find any in the darkness.

"Hinata." He said again shaking her lightly when she didn't respond, but the only reply he got was the sound of her sobs. Not wanting to see her cry he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close in an attempt to try and provide some comfort to her, and Hinata immediately wrapped her own arms around him.

For the next few minutes the two teens just sat in the middle of the road holding each other. Hinata crying into Naruto's jacket while he cradled her close to his chest making soothing sounds as he let her get the pain and sorrow out of her system.

Eventually her tears subsided and she pulled back from the embrace so they could look into each other's eyes.

"Feeling better?" he asked as he looked at her swollen eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"H-hai. Arigato Naruto-kun." She replied as she wiped her arm across her face to clean away her tears.

Helping her stand once again, Naruto started to lead her towards some shelter to get her out of the rain. Before they could reach any though, the sky roared once again with thunder and another bolt of lightning illuminated the village once more. With another scream Hinata fell back down to the ground dragging Naruto, who she was still holding onto down on top of her.

Surprised by her reaction, he looked at her to make sure she was ok once more, only to realise that his Face was just a few inches away from hers. Realising the compromising position the two were in he quickly rolled off her with a slight blush on his face, but as he looked at her again it quickly replaced with a look of worry and concern at the sight he saw.

As soon as he'd moved off her Hinata had curled up into a tight ball, as she started to shake and cry once more. As he reached out to comfort her again there was another flash of lightning, causing her to scream again as she recoiled from his touch.

Realising that in her current state she wasn't going to get very far he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her to try and keep her dry, despite the fact she was already soaking wet.

Hinata froze for a second as she felt herself being wrapped up before she grabbed a hold of the edges of the jacket and pulled it closer to her body to keep herself warm. She rubbed it against her face to dry away more of her tears as the smell of ramen from it reached her nose. It was the unmistakable scent so Naruto. Taking a deep breath of his comforting smell she started to calm down once more till she felt herself being picked up and she quickly started to panic.

Looking around she saw she was moving across the rooftops of the village. She then looked at the person who was carrying her and she realised she was being carried bridal style in the arms of Naruto.

He looked down at her with a sad smile on his face, as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders.

"Let's get you..." Was all she heard him say as another flash of lightning caught her by surprise and she buried her face into his chest once again. Naruto just held her tighter as he continued to leap across Konaha.

* * *

Balancing her in one arm he dug into his trouser pocket to retrieve the key to his apartment. Finding it he unlocked the door and pushed it open with his back as he supported her with both arms once again. Once inside he kicked the door closed and made his way through his dark apartment and placed her on his couch before going to turn the light on which broke her out of her daze.

"W-where are we?"

"My place" He replied as he entered a different room.

Hinata looked around from the couch. She hadn't been in Naruto's apartment for years, not since he left to go train with Jiraiya. Along with Sakura she regularly came by to make sure the place stayed clean and to water his plants while he was away. While most saw it as helping a friend, to her it was a way to stay close to him regardless of where he may be.

The place had changed since then. With the destruction of the village after Pein attacked the majority of the village needed rebuilding. After his apartment building had been rebuilt Tsunade had the walls to the two neighbouring apartments knocked through and remodelled to give him more room as a small token of gratitude for what he did. She remembered him excitedly telling her how his one room apartment was now just his living room. One apartment was turned into two large bedrooms, while the other became the kitchen, dining room and a full suite bathroom. He was so excited to finally getting the chance to live somewhere with more room.

She looked around the room, a small table in front of her with a few empty cups of instant ramen sitting on it. A worn orange chair sat in the corner of the room and on the far wall a large TV was mounted on it. As she looked at the other walls she saw one had a poster of the village on it while the other held several photo frames.

Slipping her arms into the sleeve's of Naruto's jacket she stood up and made her way to the wall to look at the different pictures. The first one she saw of Naruto standing alongside Sakura and Sasuke with Kakashi behind them. Team seven's first and only team photo. The photo was obviously important to him, but she couldn't help wonder if it hurt him every time he looked at it. Did it act as a reminder to the promise we he couldn't seem to for fill?

The next one was of the Konoha 11 taken before he left to go training. She had a small smile on her face as she looked at him standing in the middle of the group with a wide grin on his face while punching the air, while she stood to the side with her team watching him with a small blush and pushing her fingers together.

Below that photo was another one of the group along with Sai taken after the war. This time she stood in the centre beside Naruto who had his arm draped over her shoulders. A small laugh escaped her lips as she realised besides the fact they were standing together, they were both acting the same as in the previous picture. He was still being loud and cheerful while she was still quiet and nervous.

She moved along the wall, looking at all the other pictures of him alongside many of his friends. Some people she knew like the Kazekage and his siblings but there were some she didn't recognised. She stopped to look at another photo. This time Naruto was lying in a bed, asleep and bandaged up. But what caught her attention and made her feel slightly jealous was the girl leaning over his bed, kissing him on the cheek. There was something familiar about the girl but without seeing her face properly she wasn't quite sure who she was. She'd have to remember to ask Naruto about it at some point.

She carried on along the wall looking at the pictures till she got to the final two. The first was of her and Naruto eating at the Ichiraku ramen bar. They'd gone there for something to eat, but as it was just before closing they only had enough food for one serving. Rather than trying to find somewhere else to eat so late at night they shared the single bowl instead. They laughed and joked and by the end of the night they had started to feed each other. Ayame had taken the picture while Naruto had been feeding her and the memory of it brought a blush to her face that matched the one she had in the photo.

But when she looked at the final picture she was caught by surprise. It had a man in it that looked almost exactly like Naruto, only he didn't have the whisker like markings on his cheeks, his hair was grown out longer and he wore a white jacket. Standing beside him was a young woman with bright blue eyes and long flowing red hair, dressed in a lighter red battle kimono with a black obi. As she looked more closely she suddenly covered her mouth as a gasp escaped her. She was looking at a picture of his parents. She knew who his parents were but she didn't realise just how much he looked like them. He had his father's looks but his eyes.

"It's one of only two pictures I have of them."

She spun around quickly to look at Naruto. She hadn't heard him come back in.

"You have her eyes."

"I what?" he asked her confused.

"Your o-okaa-san. Y-you have your okaa-san's eyes." She explained as she pointed to the photo.

"I never noticed." He said as he took a close look at the photo. "Everyone just says that I look like my father."

"They're the s-same colour as your Otou–san, but their shape is j-just like hers." She said as she reached out to carefully trace round one of his eyes before pulling her hand back, embarrassed at what she had done.

Surprised by her actions he struggled to find something to say before he held out a clean set of clothes and a towel to her. "S-sorry I took so long. You can get c-changed in the bathroom over there." He stuttered out as he pointed her in the right direction.

Handing the clothes to her, he watched as she entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her before making his way to the kitchen to make some hot tea. As he finished preparing the drinks he heard her open the door again and he turned around to face her, a hot cup of tea in each hand.

The sight he saw caused him to nearly drop the drinks as he looked at her standing in the doorway. The large baggy orange t-shirt he'd given her didn't help to hide her feminine assets and while it almost hid the shorts she wore, her slim athletic legs were on view for him to see.

He suddenly found the floor very interesting as he handed her a cup and watched her small bare feet make their way to his couch and he quickly followed to sit on the table before her.

Holding the drink in both of her hands to warm them she looked at Naruto as she tried to get over her embarrassment of what she was wearing and finally noticed that he'd changed clothes as well. His black shirt with decorated with a simple white spiral and his shorts were a dull orange. His bright blonde hair was still wet and stuck to the sides of his face but to her he never looked more handsome. She saw his lips moving and she realised she hadn't heard a word he'd said.

"S-sorry Naruto-kun w-what did you say again."

"I said are you ok? Why did you run?"

His question brought everything back to her. When she'd entered his apartment and looked at his photos, she'd been able to forget her pain as she looked at all his friends and family.

Family.

Once again the cause of all her pain, but this time it was caused by their loss.

"I was scared." She said quietly, looking away from him.

"But why? You knew I was just outside the room if you needed me for anything, I mean I thought you'd been kidnapped." He then cursed under his breath as he created a single kage bunshin which ran out the front door and into the dark village.

Hinata looked at him confused for a moment before he answered. "I need to let baa-chan know I've found you and your safe."

She nodded as the room became silent as she thought about answering him. In just one day he'd gone out to bring her back to the village, stood beside her as she faced her father, promising to keep her and her sister safe after he'd passed on and he'd searched for her once more in the pouring rain worried that she may have been in danger. After everything he'd done today she decided that he deserved to know why she ran.

"When y-you left us, O-otou-san wanted to talk to me about t-the future. He told me t-things like clan secrets and how h-he wanted me to maintain our traditions." She said taking a mouthful of her tea while Naruto nodded along.

"He... he a-also asked me what I wanted for the future. W-when I told him, he asked me why I hadn't done anything about it. I told him I wasn't ready yet. That I'm too weak for y-to do so." She spoke quickly trying to cover up her slip up, hoping he didn't realise she was talking about him.

"You're not weak Hinata." He said jumping up from the table to his feet. "You've done so much to prove that. Whatever it was you two were talking about I'm sure you'll do it whenever you're ready."

"That what he said. H-he said if it's what I really wanted, that I would do it w-whenever I'm ready."

"See, he was a smart man. If you like you can tell me what it is you told him and I'll do whatever I can to help you get it." He said with a smile as he sat back down, this time beside her on the couch. Looking at each other their eyes briefly met before Hinata turned away with her face turning red.

"T-thank you N-Naruto-kun but no. Maybe in the f-future I'll tell you what it is." She said as she slowly turned around to face him again. _'At least I hope I will.'_

"T-then he asked me to... To..." she stopped as her breathing became laboured.

"He asked you what?"

"He t-turned off the alarm to his h-heart monitor then asked me to..."

"To what?" He wanted to remain calm but he was unable to keep the tone of curiosity out of his voice.

"Kill him."

The room became quiet as Naruto tried to get over the shock of what she had said. Hiashi had asked her to kill him? This was why she ran? Had she killed her own father?

"He didn't w-want to carry on knowing there was n-nothing else that people c-could do to help him. He was i-in so much pain and he didn't w- want to live like that knowing t-that it would only get worse. H-he asked me to... To s-strike him with a juken to the h-heart. He said it w-was the final wish of a d-dying man." Her stutter returned in full force as she fought to control her emotions as she told him what happened, tears flowing down her cheeks again.

"Did you do it?" He struggled to ask the question, unsure whether or not he wanted to know the answer.

"No. I-I told him I c-couldn't do it. I said I loved him too much to d-do so" She tried to wipe the tears away on her shirt but it didn't help as the tears continued to falling.

"What did he say?" Naruto wasn't sure what to do. He was still trying to get over what Hiashi had asked her to do.

"He didn't. He j-just lay in his bed. He d-didn't respond when I spoke or s-shook him. I-I thought he'd fallen asleep. Then I realised h-he wasn't moving and w-when I looked at the heart monitor it showed no heartbeat, and that's w-when I knew.

"I got scared so I ran." She broke down again and her tears fell faster. Naruto immediately closed the distance between the two of them and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

"I ran because i was scared. I-I lost my family and I, I was disappointed in myself." Her voice was a muffled whisper as she buried her face into his chest as if she was trying to hide herself away from the rest of the world.

"Disappointed?" he the blonde asked confused.

"I failed him. My otou-san asked m-my to do one last thing for him and I couldn't bring m-myself to do it. Earlier he said h-how proud he was of me but I know he was disappointed t-that I couldn't do as he'd asked. H-his final thoughts of me must have been about h-how much of a failure I am." She said as her emotions started to become too much for her and she started to struggle to breath.

As she struggled to catch her breath she felt Naruto release his hold on her, pushing her away. Panicking that he no longer wanted anything to have anything to do with her she held onto to him tighter, unwilling to let him go. She'd already lost so much and if she lost him too she wasn't sure if she'd have the strength to keep living. Eventually though Naruto was able to loosen her grip on him and push her back, holding her at arm's length from him as she bowed her head in defeat.

"Look at me."

Slowly she raised her head, her hair covering her face. Naruto carefully reached out and brushed a few stray strands of hair away from her face, till once again her bangs framed her face, but her pale lilac eyes were scrunched closed, refusing to see the look of anger and disappointment he was sure to have on his face before he told her that he never wanted to see her again.

"Hinata, please look at me."

Her eyes slowly opened at the command of his voice only to quickly close them again when he reached for her. When she felt a pair of hands gently holding her face, she opened her eyes to see her friend looking back at her.

"I understand." He said as he used his thumbs to wipe away her tears. "I know you feel that you let your father down and I understand that. I know you wanted to do whatever he asked you because you always want to help others and that's why you think you failed, right?"

Leaning into his touch she nodded, unable to find her voice.

"Your father said he was glad he got to know you better. He knew you were strong and you would do anything you could to help others." Releasing her face his hands moved to rest on her shoulders never once breaking eye contact. "But most of all I'm sure he knew just how much you loved him, just like he loved you."

He had to brace himself as she threw herself at him, holding onto him in a tight embrace. Overcome by the emotion caused by the reminder of her father's love as her tears started to fall once more, silently crying into his chest again. Wrapping his arms around her she relaxed into his embrace as he continued to talk.

"You loved him so much it must have hurt you so much when he asked."

"I s-should have d-done as he'd asked. I saw how much pain h-he was in. I loved him so much I didn't want to s-see him suffer, so I should have been able to do it. But I c-couldn't because I'm so weak." She quietly said between her silent sobs.

"Sometimes... we care about someone so much that we don't want to let them go."

She became still in his arms as she thought about what he said. Was it that simple? Did she just not want to lose him?

"E-even it that's true, I'm a shinobi I've b-been trained to put my emotions aside when killing. I've done it before s-so why couldn't I do it again?" she asked looking into Naruto's eyes, waiting for an answer before she quietly adding "Or am I just that weak?"

"So you're weak because you couldn't kill your otou-san even though he asked you?" Naruto asked, and Hinata nodded back into his chest.

"Well I guess I'm weak too."

"What!" she shouted in surprise as she pulled away from the blonde in shock. "H-how can you be weak Naruto-kun. Your s-so strong you can do anything."

"No I can't." He said shaking his head. "If it'd been Baa-chan or Iruka-sensai, or even you I really don't think I could do it. You're all like family to me and I wouldn't want to lose any of you." The expression on his face then turned solemn "Even if Jiraiya had survived his fight with Pein and he asked me to. I... I don't think I could do it. Even with all the injuries he suffered and the pain he must have been in I still don't think I could do it." He closed his eyes as a single tear started to run down his cheek as he thought about his old sensei, the crazy, sake-swilling, purse-stealing, hairy old pervert. He couldn't believe just how much he missed him.

A small delicate hand reached for his face and wiped the tears away. Opening his eyes the saw Hinata looking back at him.

"I'm so sorry Naruto-kun. " Her voice struggled to say those few words. She knew he had been close to Jiraiya as he often talked to her about the things they did together, but it had always been with a smile. He'd never talked to her about the pain his lose had caused him.

"Thanks." The jinchuriki smiled back at her and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. Despite her own problems she still cared about the feelings of others. "I remember you once saying you wanted to try and be more like me. So if I couldn't do it then I'd never be disappointed in you for not doing it."

Unable to help herself she wrapped her arms around him once more, resting her head on his shoulder, tears flowing once again. Following her lead Naruto wrapping his arms around her too, holding her tight, as the raindrops outside danced against the windows.

* * *

"Here you go." Said Naruto as he put a fresh cup of tea down on the table which Hinata picked up and took a mouthful of as she watched him return to the kitchen and bring back two cups of instant ramen. Putting one of them on the table for Hinata he sat down next to her and started to eat his own.

"You know I'm here if you need any help." He said as he slurped his noodles as if he was breathing them in rather than eating them.

"Hai, arigato Naruto-kun." She put her tea down and picked her ramen up taking a small bite. He'd apologised that he only had instant ramen in but she didn't mind. To her it was just another way that that he showed he cared, and eating ramen with her crush meant a lot more to her then any of the big fancy banquets she had attended with her clan.

"And it's not just because of the promise I made." Naruto's voice broke her out of her thoughts of her clan before the pain of their loss got to her again. "After all, you're my friend so I'd do anything to help you."

"I know there's only you, Neji and Hanabi left from the clan but remember your part of my family too." Naruto looked away from her and she followed his gaze till it landed on the wall covered with the photos that she'd been looking at earlier.

"I mean since I never had a real family I always thought of my friends as my family. Sakura's like my onee-san, Baa-Chan's like my, well Baa-Chan and you're like my..." His voice trailed off as he thought about the pale eyed girl, trying to work out just what she meant to him. Struggling to find an answer to that he decided to fill his mouth with more ramen instead and try to answer that question later.

Hinata's mind meanwhile tried to fill in end his sentence. How did he see her? Did he think of her as a sister? A cousin? Or did he maybe think of her as something more.

"Are you going to be ok?"

Her face red with embarrassment from zoning out thinking about the different possibilities she looked at the boy sat beside her. A small smile finally appeared on her face as her crush looked back at her with his amazing blue eyes and strands of noodles hanging off his chin.

"No. Not yet Naruto-kun. But I will be."


	5. Village Politics

The rays of the early morning sun shone through the window bathing Hinata's pale skin with its warmth. The events and emotion of the previous day had finally caught up to her and she'd finally fallen asleep.

As the sun shone brighter through the windows, trying to entice her to open her eyes, she only closed them tighter, determined to get more sleep. It wasn't long though before she realised it wasn't working and in a final attempt to beat the sun she turned her face into the pillow and pulled the blanket over her head. The effect was immediate as the glare of the sun vanished. Content she made herself comfortable once more, snuggling closer to her pillow, detecting the unusual smell of dirt and sweat, instead of the smell of fresh lining she was use to, yet rather than repulse her it only made her relax more, enticing her to sleep.

Or she would have if someone hadn't decided to start knocking at the door. The knocking started of light at first, but with each passing second it got harder and louder.

Growling in frustration she pulled the blanket back down and opened her mouth to speak.

"Go away. I'm sleeping."

She sat up in shock. While her thoughts, they were spoken by someone else. Before she could question it though she heard a groan coming from the couch she'd been sleeping on and she couldn't believe her eyes.

She was sat on Naruto's lap as he lay on the couch, his head resting on its arm. She'd been asleep on top of him, using his chest as a pillow. As she tried to work out how they had gotten into this position, a dark blush covering her cheeks as the banging on the door continued, but her ears were deaf to the sound as she recalled the night before. After Naruto had helped her to feel better about her father, the two had stayed up talking. It had been a strange role reversal as she did most of the talking while Naruto quietly listened as she told him various stories and memories of her family. And when she became emotional he simply wrapped her up in his arms and held her close, reminding her that there would always be someone there for her. After that the rest of the night became a blur were she remembered nothing till she woke up.

She could only guess that they'd both fallen asleep from exhaustion in each other's arms. That or... She quickly pulled the covers off of her and looked at herself. Breathing a sigh of relief she found that she was still dressed in the clothes he'd given her for the night. Nothing inappropriate had happened, not that she expected him to take advantage of her anyway. He cared too much about other people's feelings than to try something like that. Thinking about the blonde she looked down at his sleeping face and couldn't believe just how peaceful he looked as he slept. Deciding to just ignore the person knocking at the door she moved to lay back down on top of him, his chest looking like the most comfortable thing she had ever rested her head on.

However before she could though, in an attempt to get their attention the guest outside the apartment started banging on the door even harder. The wooden door creaked every time it was struck as though crying out for the assault to stop. But the visitor continued determined to get their attention before finally banged on the door so hard they put their fist through it. The sound of his door being smashed finally awoke Naruto from his slumber.

His eyes flew open as he reached under one of the cushions to grab a kunai to defend himself and tried to sit up but was unable to do so. Looking down to see why he couldn't move properly he was surprised to see Hinata laying on top of him, her eyes wide open and a blush on her face, only a few inches from his own. Caught completely by surprise he did the only thing he could think of.

He screamed.

Caught off guard by Naruto screaming in her face she tried to stand up and put some distance between the two of them, only to fall to the floor with her legs tangled in the blanket, while Naruto scrambled up the couch till he was sitting on the arm. He looked down at Hinata who was now sprawled out on the floor trying to untangle herself, about to ask her what was going on when but was forced to leap onto the floor beside her as his front door flew across the living room before crashing into the kitchen units. The two teens looked towards the doorway to find an ANBU with a tiger mask stood there, reaching over his shoulder clutching his sword ready to strike. Slowly he stepped into the room, searching for any threats before his eyes fell on the two people lying on the floor.

"What is the distress?" he asked.

Hinata instantly found the pattern on the blanket wrapped around her very interesting; deciding her reason of distress was being caught by Naruto lying on top of him. It wasn't something she wanted to voice. Naruto however never had a problem speaking his mind and that wasn't about to change.

"What is the distress? What is the distress?" he repeated, his voice getting louder with each word that he spoke. "The distress is you barging in here and breaking down my door, that's my distress. Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"Um he did Naruto-kun." Hinata interjected quietly before he could continue his rant.

"You did?" he asked looking towards the ANBU before looking back at Hinata. "Wait you heard him? Why didn't you wake me?"

"Well I, um... I..." she said as she struggled to think of something to tell him and silently cursed the blanket wrapped around her legs, wishing she was able to pull it over her head to hide the blush on her face. The last thing she wanted to do was tell him that she'd ignored their visitor in favour of spending more time curled up on the sofa with him. Thankfully the ANBU spoke before she had to humiliate herself.

"Lady Hokage requests the presence of the both of you immediately."

"What's Baa-Chan want?" Naruto asked, his voice filled with concern at the urgency of the request.

"She wishes to discuss the future of the Hyuga clan."

They both paled at the mention of the Hyuga clan. Naruto had forgotten all about them thanks to his sudden wake up and home invasion, while Hinata fought back the tears that threatened to fall at the reminder.

"Thanks for the message." Naruto said as he jumped to his feet and reached a hand out to Hinata to help her up. Looking at his hand she quickly grabbed a hold of it pulling herself up till she was stood face to face with her crush.

"Arigato Naruto-kun." She said quietly as she looked at his face, staring into his eyes, getting lost in them before she slowly lowered her gaze till she was looking at his mouth.

"That's... that's alright Hinata-chan." He replied nervously, caught off guard by the way she was staring at him. He'd seen that look from her a few times before, but had no idea what it meant. But he did know that he was starting to like it.

The way her eyes offered tenderness and care. The way she chewed on her bottom lip.

Before he could think about anything else he liked about the look she was giving him, the ANBU at the door cleared his throat, breaking them out of their trance.

"Right, best get going." Naruto said to the masked ninja as he tried to calm his beating heart that had suddenly started racing as he started making his way out of the apartment, pulling Hinata along with him.

"Ano... maybe we should change into more appropriate clothes Naruto-kun."

He stopped dead in his tracks, already out the doorway and looked down at himself dressed in his sleepwear and then towards Hinata still dressed in his shorts and t-shirt he'd given her the previous night.

He smiled sheepishly at her as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yea that'd be a good idea." He laughed as he headed back inside still pulling a crimson faced Hinata behind him so they could get dressed.

The ANBU just looked at the two of them with his head cocked to the side, silently laughing at the antics of the jinjuriki and Hyuga heiress before nodding his head and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

When he was told that Tsunade wanted to see them, he hadn't been expecting this. He thought it would be a meeting between the three of them in her office, having a discussion about what was going to happen. Instead they found themselves stood besides the Hokage at the head of the large table in the council chamber, with several pairs of eyes watching them.

All talking had ceased as soon as they had entered the room, and the way they were being watched was as if they were waiting for something to happen.

"Ok, let's get this over with." Tsunade called out, her voice echoing around the room gaining everyone's attention. "I had wanted to speak to people privately first before informing you of the current situation. However due to circumstances..." She glanced over to her left where Homura and Koharu were sitting. "It was decided that you should all be informed now." She spared a quick glance to Hinata, silently saying she was sorry. She had wanted to talk to her and Naruto first about what had happened the night before, but the elders who had just got back from a diplomatic trip to the capital of the land of fire had stormed into her office, demanding to know why the village was on high alert. Once they were told, they demanded that the whole council be present for her meeting with Hinata. She had argued against the idea but as more and more people came to her office wanting to know what was happening she reluctantly agreed.

"As you are aware the Hyuga clan was attacked two days ago by an unknown force, thanks to the efforts of the Hyuga, ANBU and other ninja present." She glanced at the blonde besides her. "The attack was stopped and all known enemies were either captured or killed."

A small cheer came from a few of the civilian council members at hearing that the village had successes against the attackers, but they quickly calmed down as the Hokage gave them a hard look, telling them that they were missing something important. "However as a result of the attack most of the Hyuga clan has been lost.

The room erupted with cries of shock and outrage. Not since the Uchiha massacre had the village suffered such a great loss outside of war.

"How could this have happened? A whole clan, gone?" An elderly civilian asked, raising his arm in the air and getting people's attention.

"They attacked using poisoned weapons and were able to activate the Hyuga's curse seal." Tsunade explained, before being interrupted by more cries of outrage. The seal was a closely guarded secret, known only to the main branch members of the Hyuga clan and it wasn't a secret that they would freely share. Through all the shouting, Shikaku Nara mumbled to his old team mates sat beside him that he always thought that the curse seal would lead the Hyuga's destruction. Inochi nodded his head in agreement while Chouza pushed his bag of chips aside, the hunger he once felt now replaced with a feeling of despair.

Eventually the room started to calm down and one by one the eyes in the room turned to Hinata. Most looked at her with concern, but a small number of the civilians looked at her with fear and suspicion. Everyone knew that the seal could only be activated by a member of the main family and as Hinata was stood before them rather than her father, they believed she played a part in the attack.

Naruto saw the way they were looking at the girl beside him and started to growl in anger. He remembered people looking at him like that when he was younger when they believed he was responsible for the pain and suffering caused by the Kyubi no kitsunes attack. It was something he'd had no control of, just like Hinata, and he was going to make sure they knew it.

Tsunade sensed something wrong and looked at her fellow blonde. He had that look in his eye that she knew very well, he was about to say something to stop everyone looking at Hinata with suspicion, so she quickly continued speaking. She knew he was going to come to Hinata's defence. He always meant well and protecting his precious people was a trait of his she truly admired, but his mouth usually caused more trouble and him telling the council off was only going to cause more problems and make her headache worse.

"During the attack Hyuga Dachi was captured while trying to lead two of the attackers out of the village. He also had an unconscious Hyuga Hanabi with him who we believe they were trying to kidnap." She explained, quickly silencing a council member who was just about to open his mouth, no doubt about to suggest that Dachi had also been captured. Looking at a few of the faces in the room she could tell they didn't believe her, what possible reason could he have had to help the attack? Well what she was about to tell them next would silence any doubters she thought to herself.

"Dachi has since been interrogated by Morino Ibiki and I have his report right here." She said as she picked a folder up from the table in front of her and held it up for everyone to see. "Hyuga Dachi confessed to planning the attack along with two other clan elders, both were found dead at the Hyuga compound. We've yet to perform an autopsy to confirm their cause of death and whether they were killed before or during the attack, we'll get those answers in due time. Dachi has also admitted to setting up the kidnapping of Hanabi with the intentions of claiming he'd rescued her. Apparently he intended to cast a genjutsu on her so that when she became the head of what was left of the clan he would be able to control her from behind the scenes. He also said he'd intended to kidnap Hinata as well and..."

Tsunade stopped, unsure how to continue, this was one of the things she had wanted to speak to the girl privately about first. The eyes of everyone in the room were glued to her, waiting for her to finish her sentence, including Hinata who had taken a hold of Naruto's hand. With each allegation Dachi admitted to, she gripped his hand tighter and tighter, her nails digging into his skin. Rather than complain though Naruto just stood there taking the pain silently, knowing that it was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling inside, and just squeezed her hand back, letting her know that he was still there for her.

Knowing that she had his support she continued. "And use her for his own personal needs before selling her on." She then quickly turned around to face Naruto. The temperature in the dropped as the sudden surge of chakra he was releasing made it harder for many people, including the seasoned shinobi in the room to breathe. He started growling, quietly at first, but with each passing second it got louder and louder till everyone in the room could hear him, as he gripped the desk in front of him with his free hand, the wood straining under his grip. He was beyond angry that someone would want to use any of his precious friends in such a way and then just sell them off as if they were property. His anger continued to build as his eyes slowly turned red, before a woman finally passed out, unable to withstand the killing intent he was giving off.

"Naruto!" Tsunade shouted, causing his head to snap in her direction. If she didn't put a stop to him soon more people would start passing out. "Control yourself or leave the room, your no good to anyone like this." She commanded while making a mental note to never let him near Dachi, because she was sure he'd see to it that he'd be drinking his food through a straw for the rest of his life, if he was lucky.

He took a deep breath and slowly released it, trying to regain his composure but found he couldn't. After hearing what Dachi had wanted to do he just wanted to find out where the man was being held and tear him to pieces. Deciding he was going to take the Hokage's advice and leave the room so he could do just that, he stopped when he felt a small soft hand rest gently on his face causing him to turn to see Hinata's milky lilac eyes looking back into his crimson red ones.

"Please Naruto-kun." Was all she said in her usual quiet voice but its effect was almost instantaneous as all the tension left his body and the killing intent faded away.

He mentally slapped himself. He'd been so consumed with his anger with Dachi that he'd completely forgotten that he was there for Hinata. He could help her more by being by her side rather than hunting the traitor down he thought as he closed his red eyes, and when he opened them again he was staring back at Hinata with blue ones.

Tsunade let out a sigh of relief as Naruto calmed down. She honestly couldn't blame him, when she'd first read Ibiki's report she had to fight the urge to go visit Dachi in his cell and pummel him into the ground herself. But if Naruto got his hands on him she was sure the damage would be much worse and she wouldn't sure if she could have stopped him. But Hinata was a natural when it came to him. With just a few kind words or a gentle look, she always seemed to calm him down whenever his emotions got the better of him.

She'd have to remember to keep the girl close by when dealing with him. She would no doubt be useful in calming him down after one of his tantrums he usually had after being told that the Fire Dynimo's wife had requested him to find her missing cat again. Sure she agreed that it was a waste of his talents, but since she was willing to pay the price of an A rank mission, who was she to complain. Plus she also found it hilarious every time he came back with his face all scratched up, that cat really didn't like him one bit.

Suppressing a chuckle at the thought she continued on with the meeting while Shizune searched for some smelling salts to wake the council woman up. "He admits to hiring the men who helped him with the attack from a mercenary, and we're currently trying to find out the person's identity. Dachi will be kept imprisoned until we've extracted all the information we can from him. His fate after that will be decided then."

She looked across the room to see its many occupants nodding their heads in agreement, but others had worried looks on their faces. Some of these were caused by the mention of the mercenary; this person had provided support to help attack the village and was therefore worried that he could try again, maybe next time to attack the village as a whole. Others were concerned about the future of Dachi. What he'd done was a traitorous act which the Hokage would punish him for, but as he'd attacked the Hyuga specifically the clan head would usually decide his fate.

"If I may ask Lady Tsunade, where is Hyuga Hiashi?" One of the younger council men asked as he started to become suspicious of his absence. Others in the room nodded in agreement as they looked at the empty seat normally reserved for the clan head. Tsunade took a deep breath as she prepared to tell everyone what had happened to Hiashi, but before she could Hinata spoke.

"M- My outo-san p-passed away last night." She said quietly as she struggled to get the words out. She knew Tsunade would have told them, but as his daughter she felt she had a responsibility to tell them herself.

A small smile graced the Sannin's lips, the strength it must have taken for the normally shy, quiet girl to tell a room full of people about her father's passing may have been lost on most people present, but not her. A few years ago she was sure the girl would of ran out of the room is she had to do the same thing back then, so her respect for the girl only grew more. Her thoughts about the girl however were drowned out by the multitude of voices that had erupted as soon as the Hyuga heiress had finished speaking, some voicing their disbelief in the situation while others demanded more explanation.

Massaging her temple with one hand, she raised the other in the air signalling for the room to be quiet. "As you were informed, Hyuga Hiashi was injured during the attack. While his injuries were not severe he had been poisoned. I removed the poison from his system but it had already caused extensive damage to his internal organs which couldn't repair. He passed away last night after spending his final hours with his daughters." Many of the clan heads nodded in agreement; if they were to die they'd like to spend their final hours with their family. Near the back of the room meanwhile an elderly councillor raised his hand into the air, gaining Tsunade's attention. Seeing him she nodded her head in his direction, letting him know it was ok to speak.

"May I ask what the current status is of the Hyuga?" he asked. Many of the other smaller clan heads present also voiced their interest in the question. Back when the Uchiha massacre had occurred, a power void had been created. Many of the clans, especially the smaller ones tried to take advantage of their demise, trying to make themselves stand out from the crowd in the hopes that they could take the Uchiha place as one of the main clans of the village. In the end while many of the clans became more prominent, it was the Hyuga that gained the most. More respect, more money, more power. But now after suffering a similar fate, the opportunity for one of the other clans to raise their standing within the village was a real possibility.

Tsunade understood the hidden meaning with the question and felt her blood boil. How could some people in the room only be concerned about making their own clans stronger at the expense of others?

Instead of worrying about the potential power struggle that was developing she decided that it could wait till a later meeting, the safety and security of the village was a lot more important.

"As it stands, Hyuga's Hinata, Hanabi are the last surviving members of the main branch, while Hyuga Neji is currently deployed on a mission outside the village. ANBU are still searching the village and compound for anyone that may have escaped the attack and gone into hiding. Through these search's we've been able to find a small group of children that managed to get away. Theyre in good health and we're hoping we'll find more people." She said as the room filled with cheers of joy.

Tears of joy ran down Hinata's face as she hugged Naruto in relief. Despite all the bad that had happened to the clan she felt some relief that some children had survived. The previous night she'd been struggling with the idea so many of her family had been killed, especially the children who she knew despite their training have been unable to defend themselves. But knowing that there had been other survivors besides her sister, he felt better, even if just a little.

Looking round the room Tsunade couldn't help but smile, especially when she saw how happy Hinata was. "There is also Dachi of course." She reminded the room before mumbling to herself that he could go to the seventh circle of hell. "Hinata, as heir will be assuming control of the clan." As soon as those words left her lips the elders sat beside her quickly rose to their feet.

"Hyuga Hinata is not of age to be a clan head, therefore a regent will be required to represent the clan until she is of age." Koharu informed the Hokage, rising from her seat.

"I nominate Koharu and myself to shoulder this responsibility." Homura continued as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. "We have both previously managed the assets of the Uchiha clan for when their heir was ready to assume control and we both also have plenty of knowledge and experience which can be passed onto the heiress to prepare her for new responsibilities."

Tsunade suppressed a laugh, while it was true that her advisers would do what was best for the village, their methods at times were questionable and she was sure that they would find a way to use the situation to their advantage. Well it was time to put a stop to those plans.

"That will not be necessary. A guardian for the Hyuga sisters and adviser for their clan's affairs has already been appointed." She said with a smile which only grew with the look of surprise on the elders faces.

"With respect Tsunade, this is not the kind of decision that should be made lightly." Koharu said as she took a sip of her drink, clearly unimpressed that a decision had been made without consulting herself and Homura. "And if you have chosen someone, should you have not informed us first before commencing the meeting?"

"Between barging into my office and then calling this meeting yourselves, when was I given the opportunity to do so?" she replied, a vain in her forehead becoming more apparent in her frustration, while the tone of her voice warned the pair that they should choose their next words carefully. The elders silently looked at each other, agreeing that in this case they hadn't given her a chance to inform them of the full situation, so Homura asked the next obvious question.

"Who has been chosen as their guardian then?"

"Before Hyuga Hiashi passed away he requested that Uzamaki Naruto become their guardian, and he accepted."

As soon as Naruto's name was mentioned an elderly councillor leapt to his feet and pointed to the blonde. "No! You can't allow that demon to have control over the Hyuga. He'll take advantage of them." He shouted across the room.

"His name is Naruto!" The Sannin shouted back at the man as she brought her fist down onto the table in front of her, shattering it into pieces. "I strongly advise that you remember that."

Naruto just looked at the man as he cowered underneath the table with pity. Despite he had achieved and done for the village and ninja world as a whole, there were still some people who couldn't see past the demon sealed within him. Shizune meanwhile breathed a sigh of relief. The paperwork she'd have to complete to get a new desk was nothing compared to the work she'd have had to do if Tsunade had hit the councillor instead.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, another man raised his hand to speak, fearful of what the powerful kage might do. She nodded her head, so he slowly began to speak while choosing his words carefully.

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but I thought that in situations like this only the village elders, council members and clan heads could assume guardianship over a clan?"

"You are correct Tetsu-san." Tsunade said, now feeling more relaxed. "However two weeks ago at the last clan meeting I petitioned for the Uzamaki to be recognised as an official clan of Konoha, along with all rights and responsibilities that come with it. While Naruto is the only known survivor of both the Uzamaki and Namikaze, he may in the future want to start a family, and I think giving him clan status is the least we could do after everything he's done, as well as for what the village has done to him in the past. The proposal was voted unanimously in favour of, with only Homura and Koharu unable to cast their votes due to being out of the village."

The elders stared at Tsunade, annoyed that such an important decision had been made without them and they were sure that the fact the vote was held while they were out of the village was no coincidence either. Had they been there and given enough time they could have got enough of the clans to change their minds on the subject or at least prevent him from having a seat on the council. But Tsunade had sent them to both to the fire capital, claiming that she needed senior representatives to help set up a meeting between the land of fire and the land of spring.

"Will Uzamaki-san be utilising the clan restoration act? Another voice called out across the room as the elders continued to fume.

'The what?' Naruto though as he looked to the Hokage for an explanation.

"He won't be expected to use the act, however..." Tsunade said as she looked at the young man she considered family, unhappy with what she was about to say. "If he wishes to use it he may." She was never a fan of the act. It made sense when the village was first founded because of the constant wars, but in times of peace it was just an excuse for perverts to have their way with women.

While Naruto continued to look around the council chamber in confusion, Hinata started to worry. She was well aware that the idea of the act was to quickly increase the size of a clan and she was sure there would be people expecting her to start repopulating the clan, but that wasn't what concerned her. What worried her was the thought of Naruto and all the potential wives he could have. While she wanted to be with him she just wasn't sure she could or want to share him in that way.

After giving everyone a few moments to digest everything they'd been told Tsunade spoke once more. "Right, that's all the information I have to give to you all at the moment, now if you don't mind I have matters to attend to with Naruto and Hinata." She then glanced across the room where Homura and Koharu were getting out off their seats and making their way towards her, no doubt to be involved in their conversation. They'd already made things more difficult by setting this meeting up before she'd had a chance to inform Hinata of the developments first, so she was determined to give the girl some privacy. "Alone!" she growl stopping them in their tracks. The three of them stared at each other with hardened eyes, trying to find a weakness in the other. Eventually Homura and Koharu relented; they'd already forced the Hokage to share information with the council before she was ready to do so, if they pushed much more she was likely to start breaking more furniture. If they wanted more information they'd have to use a more tactful approach.

"I'll contact you all with more information when it's available. Meeting adjourned." Tsunade said dismissing the council with a wave of her hand, glad that the elders were offering no resistance to her command. She'd deal with them later.

Rising to their feet the council bowed to their leader before making their way to the exit, while some members stopped briefly to give Hinata their condolences and congratulate Naruto on his new status. Eventually everyone had left the room and Shizune locked the doors before returning to stand by her master's side, who had sat back down with the two teens.

"I'm sorry Hinata." The Hokage said looking at the girl. "I'd intended to tell you everything before going informing the council, but as you saw some people just weren't willing to wait."

Hinata just nodded her head, accepting the apology before she then turned to boy beside her. "Why didn't you tell me they'd let you establish your own clam?" she asked him, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice. Originally feeling extremely happy for him she was now starting to feel a little upset with the fact he hadn't told her. They'd shared so much with each other since the end of the war, why hadn't he told her about his clan.

"Well, erm, actually I wanted to tell you about it" he said grinning sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "But you were about to go on your mission so I was going to tell you when you got back. Remember? I said I had something to tell you when you got back?"

What little anger she had was quickly replaced by embarrassment as she recalled the conversation. He had said he'd wanted to tell her something, that's why she wanted to hurry back from her mission. Thinking about it more she started to feel bad. She was sure he had been itching to tell her last night but had stayed quiet about it instead, opting to comfort her.

Unaware of her thoughts though, Naruto carried o talking. "I wanted to tell you first so nobody else knows, that's why the council was surprised I guess since I asked Baa-chan to keep it quiet." His expression then became more saddened. "But then I forgot because of... Well you know." He said unable to speak of what had happened but everyone understood what he meant.

"Well now that Naruto's status is out of the way we need to discuss what will happen with you and Hanabi. I don't know what you want to do in the long term but for the moment the two of you need somewhere to stay." Tsunade said feeling the need to bring order to the conversation and deal with more important matters.

"What's wrong with the compound? Cant they still stay there?" Naruto asked, only for Tsunade to shake her head.

"No gaki. If they want to stay there in the future that's fine, but for at least a few weeks they'll need to stay somewhere else until the place has been secured and cleaned up." She explained as she pulled her fist back, ready to hammer the blonde for asking a stupid question.

"We can just stay in a hotel until things are settled down." Hinata said quietly while cringing as Naruto flew across the room and into the far wall with a thump courtesy of Tsunade.

"Well if that's what you want then I'll set that up for you and of course the council will cover the bill for it. Shizune." The Hokage called out, stopping her assistant who was on her way to check on the blonde stuck in the wall, telling her to get the paperwork they'd needed instead. The sooner she could get that annoying job done with the better.

"She can stay with me if she likes."

The sudden statement caught everyone by surprise and they all looked across the room to the source of the voice.

Naruto

"She can stay at mine." He repeated again as he pulled himself out of the wall and shook his head, shaking debris free. "I mean I'm sure she'd feel more comfortable staying at someone's home rather than some random hotel. And if she stays with me it'll be easier for us to do all those clan thingies I'm supposed to help her with, and they'll be safer with me if anyone tries again."

The three women looked amongst themselves; Shizune was in shock that he came up with an idea that seemed to be thought through, while Hinata's face started to heat up. Thoughts raced through her head, she was grateful that he was offering them his home but she couldn't help all the other thoughts of the different things that could happen with the two living together.

"So while you're watching over Hinata at your apartment, what will we be doing with Hanabi and the rest of the Hyuga?" she asked thinking that while

Tsunade asked as she reconsidered her decision of pulling her earlier punch and was considering sending him through the wall next time because while he was happy to take Hinata in it seemed that he'd completely forgotten about the little sister and the rest of the family that needed a home. That and as much as he denied it he could be just as big a pervert as Jiraiya was, and she didn't want to risk him doing anything inappropriate.

Naruto just smiled back at her though. "Well Hanabi can stay with me too of course. I wouldn't be much of a guardian if I only looked after one of them now would I? I'm sure they'll want to stay together, right?"

"Where're they going to sleep?" Shizune asked joining in, understanding why her master was questioning him. "You only have two bedrooms, you plan on sharing your room with one of them?" she said with a wide smile on her face as she looked at Hinata who seemed on the verge of fainting as all the blood in her body rushed straight to her face at the suggestion.

"No of course not!" he shouted back, offended by the accusation. "They can have the beds ill sleep on the couch, it's not like I'm a pervert."

The room became eerier quiet as everyone thought over what had been said till eventually Hinata spoke.

"I've decided. I would like to accept Naruto-kun's offer for me and Hanabi to stay with him if he truly is willing to accept us." She said looking at the three individuals in the room before her gaze finally rested on the lone blonde's feet, unable to look him in the eye as her nerves started to get the better of her. Her voice was becoming quieter as she spoke each word and without realising it she started to press her fingers together as she began to worry that he may change his mind. Naruto however just smiled.

"Mind? Of course I don't mind." He laughed, the sound of which seemed to give her the confidence to lift her head and look at him once more. "I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't will now would I?" he continued as he walked up to her and gave her a hug that she quickly returned.

The two just stood there embracing each other till.

"If you two are finished I think it's time we went to see Hanabi and tell her what's been decided." The sound of the Hokage's voice caused both of them to jump in surprise and more several feet away from each other, embarrassed that they'd been caught in such a position together.

"Y-yes I r-really need to g-go see Hanabi, and see h-how she is." The heiress stuttered, her face as red as a beetroot.

Naruto chuckled nervously. "Yes of course." He said as he ran his fingers through his hair as he made his way towards the chamber doors, unlocking them before holding them open as everyone made their way out of the room.

"By the way gaki do you intend to have the rest of the Hyuga stay with you" Tsunade asked as she let the others out first. The look on both his and Hinata's faces told her that they'd both forgotten about them. "Don't worry." She laughed. "We'll work something out for them; let's go see Hanabi for now."

Nodding in agreement Hinata walked out the door, making her way towards the hospital where her little sister was resting. Naruto followed her, quickly falling into step beside her, never noticing the door he'd been holding swing close and hit Tsunade in the face or Shizune her master didn't hospitalize him.


	6. Moving Forward

It'd been a week since the attack on the Hyuga had taken place. After the council meeting, plans were quickly put into motion and on the next day, a funeral for the fallen was help. The whole village, both civilian and shinobi alike had gathered before the Hokage's tower as the service was held. Everyone stood silent as Tsunade stood before them, trying to speak words of comfort and remind people just how much the Hyuga clan had helped the village grow and develop. In the front row of mourners several children started to cry. Surviving the attack because they'd been too young to of had the curse seal placed on them, the children along with just five adults that had hidden them away during the attack were all that remained of the Hyuga besides Hinata, Hanabi and Neji.

Eventually Tsunade finished speaking and stepped away from the podium as Hinata stepped forward with her sister besides her.

"It's hard to find the words to explain how we're feeling." Hinata began as she looked out across the sea of people that had come to pay their respects. "But my sister and I are very grateful for the support that everyone has shown us and our family. To lose a family member is always tough and to suffer a loss on a scale such as this is even more so. But we will be strong, we will heal. We won't let what has happened to us control our future." She looked to Hanabi beside her who gave a small nod of approval. Before the ceremony the sisters had agreed that Hinata would speak for them. While Hanabi had always been the more confident of the two when speaking in front of people, she was at a loss of what to say in such a situation.

"We shall carry on, for the good of the village, and the good of ourselves. We will learn from the mistakes of the past so that a tradagy like this will never happen again. We will never forget what has happened here, and we'll never forget those that we've lost." Hanabi then reached into her pocket and pulled out a scroll which she handed to her sister. Holding it before her she began reading what was written on it. "Katsuma, Hitomi, Ryu, Kenta, Senshi..."

The names of her fallen family.

She slowly made her way through the long list, calling out each name on it for everyone to hear and remember. In the crowd the children broke down as they heard the names of their family being called out, a reminder that they would never see them again. And rather than scold them for acting what was usually considered inappropriate for a Hyuga the adults joined them, shedding tears of sorrow and hugging them tightly, promising them that their lose would not be in vain.

"Motoko, Katsuhiko, Takeshi..." she carried on and with each name she spoke an image of that person flashed before her eyes. While she could never truly get to know everyone in her family, Hinata had made a point of trying to spend time with everyone in order to strengthen the relationship between the main and branch houses. Since her and Neji's fight at the chunin exams the two houses had slowly started to come together, and as she and her cousin got stronger as ninja, so had the bonds within the family. Helping to bring her family close together again was one of her greatest achievements.

As her sister spoke, Hanabi brought her hand up to her face and quickly wiped away the tears that were starting to fall, determined to put on a strong stonic front, just like her father had taught her from a young age, even as her emotions tore her apart inside. Right now it was the only thing she felt she could do to honour her family.

Meanwhile, Hinata chose to let her tears fall. Each name on the list was a reminder of someone in her life she would never see again.

Eventually Hinata reached the end of the list, her voice horse, and tears streaming from her eyes as she struggled to read out the final name. Yet every time she opened her mouth to speak her voice failed her, as if refusing to acknowledge the loss. As the village looked up to her, waiting for her to continue speaking she felt her confidence finally abandon her. As she struggled to find anything to say, she felt her body start to shake as her breathing became more ragged. She wiped her face on her sleeve to clear away the tears only for them to be replaced by more as the silence of the crowd became deafening to her

Suddenly she lost her grip on the scroll and it fell to the ground and started rolling towards the edge of the building. Panicking more so, she quickly dropped to her knees and scrambled after it before it could be lost. Quickly a hand reached out from behind her and grabbed a hold of the scroll just before it fell. Expecting it to have been Hanabi she turned to thank her but instead found Naruto. He looked different to how he normally did, dressed in his black mourning clothes rather than his traditional orange and his bright smile replaced with a look of concern as he took her by the hand and helped her back to her feet before holding the scroll out to her. For a split second a smile graced her lips as she was reminded that that the blonde had always been there to give her strength as she took the scroll from him. Muttering a quiet thank you that was for his ears only she turned forward once more to look over the villagers that had been waiting for her and spoke the final name on the list. "Hiashi." After speaking her father's name she turned to Naruto and pulled him into a hug as she became overcome with emotion, all the while he stood there holding her close to his chest, reminding her that she wasn't alone before guiding her off the podium were Tsunade started speaking once again.

As Tsunade spoke of how the village would more on from the tradjedy Koharu and Homura spoke amongst themselves while sparing disapproving glances at the heiress, unimpressed that she was unable to maintain her composure. But Hinata was unaware of all of this as she continued to hug Naruto, only stopping briefly to pull Hanabi in as well. Held by her sister she too finally let her tears fall, her Hyuga pride finally giving way to all the emotions she'd been bottling up throughout the service. Naruto, surprised by the new addition decided the best thing to do was to just continue what he was doing and wrapped his arms around both sister, embracing them. Stiffening at the sudden appearance of Naruto's arm around her waist her first instinct was to hit him for taking liberties like her instructors had taught her to, but instead pulled him closer along with her older sister, their presence giving her comfort.

When the village had finally finished paying their respects, the ceremony was moved to the Hyuga compound were in a private service, the fallen were laid to rest. There, overseen by the remnants of the Hyuga and the village council, the bodies of the deceased were lowered into the ground one by one.

As the final graves were filled in the group started to break apart. Tsunade returned to her office to resume her duties of running the village while the council members made their way home to spend time with their families, after being reminded just how precious they could be. The Hyuga returned to their temporary home, the children emotionally drained after saying their goodbye's to their family, leaving just Naruto, Hinata and Hanabi.

Silently the three of them made their way through the grave site until the girls finally found the one they were looking for. Their father's grave. Laid to rest besides beside their mother, the girls stood before them silently talking to them while Naruto stood further back to give the girls some privacy.

Hanabi apologised for not visiting her mother sooner and was sorry that it was happening under these circumstances. She apologised to her father that she wasn't strong enough to do more on the night of the attack and was determined to make herself stronger so such an attack could never happen again. Hinata meanwhile promised that she would do everything she could to make them proud and help the clan recover and become stronger as a family as well as following through with her father's wishes about telling Naruto about her feelings.

Eventually the skies began to darken and rain started to fall as the girls each laid a single flower on the graves and said their goodbyes, promising to return soon before rejoining Naruto and returning to the village, ready to try and move on.

* * *

"That's the last one boss." A group of Naruto clones called out as they dropped the boxes they'd been carrying about on the floor in the foyer.

"That's great." The original called out from the other side of the houses. "You guys can go now." And no sooner had he finished speaking the clones vanished in a puff of smoke as Hinata and Hanabi walked through the door also carrying boxes.

"How come we have to do all this carrying, he could easily make enough bunshin's to do all this himself." Hanabi complained as she dropped her box on the floor, causing the kunai and shuriken it held to rattle from the impact.

"He's letting us stay in his home Hanabi. You shouldn't expect him to do everything for us." Hinata chided her sister as she set her box on top of the ones the clones had left and started to look around the house.

When Naruto had said that they could stay with him she'd expected the three of them to share his small apartment, but Naruto had something better in mind. Because of his new clan status within the village the council had suggested that he invest in a new, bigger home. Tsunade however had told him not to worry and had explained that hidden away towards the back of the village, was a small compound that once belonged to his parents. The place had suffered from years of neglect and would need renovation but it was his whenever he wanted it. So since finding out about it he'd been spending everyday there with an army of bunshin's working on it, from fixing the holes in the roofs and floors to rebuilding the fences around the perimeter. He'd originally intended to just do the place up and let Tsunade use it for important guests that were staying in the village while he stayed in his apartment since he didn't like the idea of staying in such a big place by himself. But now that the Hyuga sisters were staying with him he realised that his small apartment would be too cramped for the three of them to live together for very long.

So while one group of bunshin's went to retrieve his belongings and another group went with the girls for their stuff, Naruto had gone to their new home to finish off the repairs.

"Well he could have given us more help to carry all this." Hanabi complained as she sat down on a box and jested to the dozens more that littered the floor.

"Well to be fair you only carried one box in the end." Naruto said as he appeared from one of the bedrooms and made his way down the stairs to join the girls and opened the box she'd been carrying. "And it's the box I said you could have left; this place has plenty of weapons." He laughed as he saw the contents.

"Well now we have more." She cheekily smiled back.

"Yo Naruto, where'd you go?" a new voice called out, surprising the girls as they looked towards the source of the voice at the top of the stairs were Kiba stood resting against the banister. Before Naruto could answer him though, he caught sight of his team mate and her sister.

"Oh, hey Hinata how you doing?" he called out as he leapt over the banister and landed in front of the girls, almost landing on one of the many boxes on the ground.

"I'm fine Kiba, thank you for asking." She replied, while Hanabi levelled a hard glare at him.

"Was it really necessary for you to jump down the stairs?"

"Cause not, it's just a lot more fun that way." He laughed with a wide smile that showed off his fangs. Naruto laughed along with him while Hinata hid a small giggle behind her hand, Hanabi however wasn't amused.

"You should show more respect when you're in someone else's home" she scolded him.

"Right the furniture's all just about set up." Kiba said as he turned to face Naruto, completely ignoring what the young Hyuga had said which only infuriated her more. "I'm gonna have to go now, I've got to be ready for my guard shift soon and I need to get Akumaru from my sis first."

"Is Akumaru alright?" Hinata asked with a hint of worry in her voice. The only time he ever left Akumaru with his sister was when there was something wrong with him.

"Naw, he's fine. He just picked up some fleas from that last escort mission we did and nothing we seem to do will get rid of them. So Hana's having a crack at them with some new stuff she's got." He explained, putting her mind to rest as he started making his way through the minefield of boxes, and out the front door.

"Ok well thanks for the help Kiba, and remember to let the guys know if you see them before me." Naruto said as he waved good bye to his friend before a thought crossed his mind and he ran to the doorway to call out to him. "And don't you dare bring Akumaru with you if he's still got fleas, or you'll be the one getting a flea bath."

"What did you mean when you said tell everyone?" Hinata asked as she watched Naruto make his way back towards her, as she picked up a box and started to climb up the stairs.

"Well since the three of us have moved into a new home, I thought I'd be cool if we had a party. You know, kind of like a house warming." He replied with a smile as he stacked two boxes on top of each other and quickly followed behind her.

"Ano, I don't know if that's a good idea, we've not had a chance to settle in yet." Hinata said as she entered her bedroom and set the box down on the bed, ready to be unpacked.

"Aww come on sis, it'll be fun." Hanabi pleaded as she poked her head through the door, before her voice became more solemn. "It can't be worse than the last time." She said as images of her birthday passed through her mind.

"I know that. I just don't know if it's really appropriate to have one so soon?" She said as she pulled out several small items from her box and placed them on her night stand. It just didn't seem appropriate to have a celebration so soon after the passing of their family.

"Please." Naruto and Hanabi pleaded together, forcing Hinata to turn and look at them, but she was not prepared for what she saw.

They were both giving her the puppy dog look.

She normally found it hard to say no to her sister and Naruto, but with them both looking at her with those big wide eyes and pouting lips, she realised there was only one thing she could say.

"Okay then."

Naruto and Hanabi danced about the room excitedly as they celebrating their victory as Hinata covered her ears from the deafening noise they were making.

"So when was you thinking of having the party?" she asked the pair finally started to calm down, allowing her to think.

"Well I was thinking tomorrow night"

"But we haven't got the house ready yet" Hinata said, shaking her head. "We can't have a party with all the boxes scattered around the house.

"Well we better hurry up and do something about that then shouldn't we." He replied with a smile as he made a small group of bunshins. Instructing them to move the boxes that were at the bottom of the stairs into the right rooms and unpack them they quickly disappeared with Hanabi leaving him alone with Hinata.

Eager to get the unpacking done as quickly as possible be quickly dove into one of the boxes he'd brought up. "You finish that box and ill unpack this one for you. Where do you wa..." he was about to ask where she wanted him to put the contents but was caught by surprise by what was sitting at the top. Hesitantly he reached in and picked the item up.

"What was that Naruto?" she asked as she turned round to face him but quickly froze when she saw what he was holding. There were a few things she wasn't comfortable with the man she loved seeing just yet. The letters she'd written for him while he was training with Jiraiya that talked about her feeling, but never had the nerve to send. The picture of her dressed up as a baby onbaa by her mother when she was an infant.

It was neither of these though as instead he held a thong in his hands.

Her face turned beet red from embarrassment as he continued to stare at the flimsy garment. It had been a gift from Ino after a day out shopping with the girls, saying she was sure that a special someone would enjoy it. Eventually she caved under the pressure from the girls as they took delight in talking about her new relationship with Naruto and she reluctantly accepted the gift despite trying to argue that they just had a closer friendship now than before and he wouldn't be seeing her in her underwear. The girls had laughed and looked at her knowingly, and she had admitted a little to herself that she wasn't averse to the idea in the future. But right now, seeing him staring so closely at it she wished she could hide under a rock far, far away.

Naruto meanwhile couldn't believe what he held in his hands. Travelling with Jiraiya he'd seen his far share of women's underwear. The old toad sage seemed to take great joy in claiming the underwear form the women he'd spent the night with and then leaving it at the bottom of his bed for him to find when he woke up. When he demanded to know why he kept doing it Jiraiya would just ask if he was gay then laugh at the way he'd over react. No what surprised him as the fact that Hinata, who looked so sweet and innocent, would wear something so skimpy, so sexy? The image of her wearing it quickly appeared in his head as a small trickle of blood started to run from his nose.

Quickly wiping the blood away, he threw the underwear back in the box it came from and mumbling an apology quickly made his way out the room embarrassed that he'd thought of Hinata in such a lewd way as the girl continued to stand there like a statue, trying to come to terms with her boy she likes seeing her underwear.


	7. A New Mission

Naruto had locked himself away in his bedroom after he'd seeing Hinata's underwear, in the hopes of clearing the perverted images that kept flashing through his mind, but it wasn't easy. Hoping that keeping himself busy might help he set himself to work, unpacking the various items he'd boxed away to move, make his bed and put his clothes away, even if all he did do was throw them into the back of the wardrobe.

When he was finished though he realised that the inner pervert in him refused to let go of the idea of Hinata in a thong, so he tried meditation. Silently sat on his bed he tried to clear his mind like the old toad sage Fukasaku had taught him back on Mount Myoboku. But half an hour later he finally gave up, with the only thing he'd been successful in doing in doing was making his backside go numb.

Finally out of desperation he started banging his head against the wall, hoping that it'd have some sort of effect. The only thing it did do though was cause Hinata, whose room was on the other side of the wall to come knocking to see if he was alright. With a smile on his face he'd told her he'd been hammering in some nails to hang some pictures and that he was fine, despite the bright red mark that had appeared n his forehead, and then encouraged by his growling stomach, suggested that they go get ramen for dinner.

The journey had been rather quiet as the three of them made their way to Ichiraku Ramen as Naruto and Hinata struggled to look at each other while Hanabi would just look back and forth between the two, trying to work out why the two were acting so weird with each other. The silence was eventually broken as they stepped under the flap of the ramen bar to find it packed with people busily eating their food while laughing and talking with their friends. Struggling to find somewhere to sit Hanabi was about to suggest that they maybe try to get something to eat somewhere else when they heard a voice call out to them. Searching through the throng of people Naruto found Ayame waving them over at the counter where she quickly made room for the there to sit. It was at this point when they were asked what they were having that Naruto found out that the young Hyuga besides him had never actually tried ramen before. Scandalised by the idea of living with someone who had never even tried what he considered the greatest food in the world he'd quickly order one of everything on the menu for her to try. As Ayame started preparing the food, Hanabi tried explaining to him that she only had a small appetite and that there was no way she could possibly eat so much food all to herself. The blonde just smiled back at her though and told her to eat what she wanted and that he'd handle the rest. So it came as a huge surprise to her that after trying a few different bowls before settling on a recipe she liked that Naruto quickly started making his way through the food that remained. Hinata just sat there laughing at the astonished look on her sister's face while she ate her own bowl of ramen. She wasn't sure what had surprised Hanabi more, the fact that he was making such a spectacle of himself as he ate, or the fact that he after finishing everything off he then ordered more.

Eventually as the meal went on and Ayame joined them to see how they were, Naruto and Hinata were finally able to look and talk to each other. The embarrassment from earlier in the day had become a distant memory to them as they managed to find the funny side of what had happened, which made Naruto very happy especially when Hinata told him that she understood it was an accident and she didn't believe he was a pervert. He was extremely glad with the last part because he didn't want either of the girls to worry about him peeping on them while they stayed with him.

* * *

"Naruto" A voice called out causing the blonde to sit up in his bed. He looked around the room trying to find where the strange voice was coming from but found nothing. Figuring it was a figment of his imagination he closed his eyes again ad tried to get back to sleep.

"Naruto" His eyes snapped open sure that he deffinently heard his name this time. Determined to find the source of the voice he rolled out of his bed and made his way out the room and into the hallway. Looking around all he was able to make out was the outline of the doors in the corridor that were lit up by the moonlight that shone in through the windows. Unable to find the source of the voice he closed his eyes and waited for it once again call out to him.

"Naruto." His eyes snapped open and he quickly made his way towards the sound until he came to a stop outside the door he heard the voice come from. Hinata's room. Realising who's room it was he was about to knock on the door to see if she was alright when the voice called out for him once again. This time he recognised the voice as Hinata's and he quickly stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

"I've been waiting for you."

* * *

Naruto woke up with a thump as he rolled out of bed and landed on his head. Sitting up on the floor he rubbed the sore spot on his head as he tried to remember what he'd been dreaming about. He remembered a voice calling out to him, yet the more he tried to recall of the dream the less he found himself remembering. Deciding it couldn't have been that interesting of a dream if he couldn't remember it he looked the clock to check what time it was. Seeing it was coming towards 10 o'clock he pulled himself to his feet and threw his t-shirt off before grabbing the towel that was hanging at the end of his bed and make his way to the bathroom to take shower. Making his way down the hallway he stopped outside Hinata's room. Looking at the closed door he felt a moment of deja vu as he tried to hear if she was up. Not hearing any noise coming from the other side he decided that she must still have been asleep, so he left her to catch up on her sleep since she hadn't seemed to be getting much of it since she'd gotten back to the village.

As he got to the bathroom he reached for the door only for it to open with Hinata stood at on the other side surrounded by steam from the hot shower and dressed in only a bath towel. Naruto just stared at her, his jaw moving up and down as though he was trying to speak yet no words came out. Her long wet hair, pale skin, long smooth legs. Realising he was staring he quickly spun on his heels and faced away from her. "S-S-Sorry." He stuttered, finally able to find his voice.

"I-Its ok, N-Naruto." Hinata stammered back. While embarrassed that Naruto had seem her in such a state of undress, she found herself unable to resist the sight of his own, toned bare chest and the sight of his backside when he turned around thanks to the tight boxers he was wearing. "I s-should of dressed m-more appropriately, I'm j-just used to h-having an en suite bathroom."

"Me too." Naruto laughed nervously, as he wrapped the towel around his waist hoping that it made him look more modest. "I'm so used to living alone I didn't think about running into you or Hanabi."

"T-That's alright, I-I suppose it'll take us all s-some time to get used to living t-together." She replied before quickly making her way back to her room where she collapsed on her bed and tried to calm down her racing heart.

Meanwhile hearing the door close Naruto let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding as he thanked kami that Hinata was such a kind and understanding person, because he wasn't sure what he'd of done if she'd thought he was trying to capitalise on what had happened the day before with the thong. Turning back around, he took a step towards the bathroom when someone suddenly raced past him, pushing him aside and ran into the bathroom slamming the door behind closed. Realising what had just happened he started banging his fist against the door. "Hey! I was here first." He yelled.

"You snooze, you lose." Hanabi laughed in reply as she poked her head out the door to stick her tongue out at him, before closing the door and turning the shower on so she could get a wash herself.

"But it's my house." He yelled as he banged on the door again only to hear her laughter over the sound of the running water. Eventually he gave up, admitting defeat and dragging his feet made his way back to his room to get dressed so as not to get caught by Hinata dressed in just his underwear again, when there was a knock at the door. With a sigh of frustration he made his way down the stairs with the memory of what had happened to the front door the last time he hadn't answered straight way and opened it to find three young genin stood waiting for him.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" the young boy in the middle of the group asked?

"Erm, yes?" Her replied, though it sounded more like a question as he tried to fathom what it was they wanted.

"See I told you this was the place." The small girl in the group said as she elbowed one of the boy's in the ribs before stepping forward. "We've been sent by Lady Hokage. She says she needs to you and Hyuga's Hinata and Hanabi as soon as possible."

"Is that all?"The blonde asked, quickly grabbing the towel that had been hanging around his waist as he felt the knot begin to loosen. It was bad enough that he'd been caught in his boxes by Hinata, so he had no intention of flashing the three kids in front of him.

"Yep" The girl replied with a cheery smile, before turning to her two team mates. "Right, mission complete let's go find sensei" she said and quickly tuned on her heels and made her way down the path, one of her team mates quickly followed suit, but the third member stayed behind.

"Are you ok?" Naruto asked wondering why the boy was staring at him so much. Since he'd answered the door the boy hadn't spoken a word or even moved a muscle. Worried that there might have been something wrong with him he was about to call out to the boys team when he suddenly spoke.

"You're so cool." He said as a big goofy smile appeared on his face. "Can I get an aut..." He never got to finish what he was about to say though as the girl came marching back down the path and grabbing a hold of his shirt collar, dragged him away while admonishing him for acting so uncool infront of the hero of the leaf.

"What was that?" Hinata asked as she walked up beside him, now fully dressed while running a towel through her hair.

"Baa-chan wants to see us and she sent my fan club to tell me." He explained as he thought about the way many of the younger ninja of the village looked up to him, before realising that his towel was finally going to fall from around his waist and made a quick retreat to his room before he flashed Hinata again.

* * *

"You can't be serious baa-chan?"

"Do I look like I'm joking gaki?"

The Hokage's office was filled with shouting as Naruto and Tsunade yelled at each other, nose to nose. Hanabi watched in awe as the two went at it, while Hinata stood next to her, considering whether or not it would be a good idea to step out the room to give the two some privacy, all the while Shizune shuffled through the paperwork that littered the desk, seemingly unconcerned by the warring blonds.

"This is an important mission and you were requested for it personally." Tsunade said as she settled back into her seat, decided to show some restraint. "And it's a really important client."

"I don't care!" Naruto pressed on. "I don't care if the client's kami himself, you already gave me a mission to protect Hinata and Hanabi, and I can't do that whether I'm fighting bandits, saving princesses or chasing after a damn cat so I am not doing it!" He said crossing his arms in defiance as he continued to stare Tsunade down.

At this the kage rose to her feet, slamming her fists down onto the desk, sending Shizune scrambling for the spilt scrolls and papers as they fell to the ground. "Don't give me that you aren't the Hokage yet." Naruto smirked at the subtle remark but it quickly disappeared as she continues. "I am! And so you will do as I tell you, and I say you're doing it!"

Naruto opened his mouth to argue further but a gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him as Hinata spoke. "Excuse me Hokage-sama, but if Naruto has to go on this mission, then what will happen with us." She asked as she motioned to herself and her sister as Naruto tried to calm down.

"Well you have a choice. You can either stay in the village and we assign you a new guardian until the gaki returns." Tsunade said as she took her seat again, confident that Naruto had vented what anger he had about the mission. "Or we can just send the two of you along with him." she couldn't help herself from laughing as she looked at the surprised faces of Naruto and Hanabi. Neither of them had expected her to make such a suggestion.

"Would that be possible? Clan leaders don't usually go away on missions unless they're urgent." Hinata asked. In all the years she could remember, the only mission her father had gone on that had nothing to do with the clan was when he joined the front lines during the forth shinobi war. "Wouldn't I have to stay to lead the clan?"

"Normally you'd be correct. However exceptions can always be made. If you want to go on the mission I'll be happy to keep an eye on your family while you are gone." Sundae explained.

"If you don't mind." Hinata asked nervously. "I know my place should be with my family, but I feel as though I'd be more useful helping Naruto." Her family was important to her but since most of them were just children they needed someone who could take care and look after them rather than someone to simply lead them and make them a stronger clan.

"Course not." Tsunade replied, understanding her concerns.

"Hey." Hanabi called out, speaking for the first time since walking into the room. "Do I get any say in this?"

"Ofcouse you do. You get to choose what clothes you want to take with you." Naruto laughed as he patted her on the head only for her to shrug him off. "I can't keep an eye on you both if Hinata's with me while you stay in the village now can i."

"That's not what I meant." She huffed at him before looking a little sheepish. "I want to go, but I've err, never been on a mission outside the village before.

"What? You call yourself a ninja but you've never been on a mission before." Naruto asked in disbelief.

"No. I was trained at home by my father rather than at the academy, so I've never actually graduated. The only time I've even been outside the village wall's is when I'd accompany father to some of his meetings." She explained while looking at her feet, feeling embarrassed at what she'd admitted.

"Don't worry about it. Me and Hinata have been on loads of missions, we'll take care of you." Naruto said, trying to reassure her before looking back at Tsunade. "She is ok to come with us isn't she?" he asked.

"Normally I'd say no. However a few weeks ago id received a request from your father about you officially joining the ranks of our ninja forces." She explained as she stated searching through the piles of scrolls and papers that littered her desk. Seeing that her master was struggling to find what she was looking for Shizune joined the search and quickly found the stack of papers they'd been looking for and handed them over. With a nod of gratitude Tsunade took them and continued. "This here is all the information I have on your training, as well as a report from an academy instructor who's been observing you. With all this I'm more than happy to say that you would have graduated the academy and would like to officially make you a genin." She said proudly as she dug through one of her draws, pushing the sake bottles aside before pulling out a leaf hitai-tai and presented it to the young Hyuga.

"Thank you." Hanabi said in surprise as took the headband. She stood there, staring at the polished metal place on the black cloth before eventually tying it round her neck as a chocker just like her sister.

"Well done." Hinata said, applauding her sister as she gave her a hug as tears of joy from her achievement threatened to fall. "Father would have been proud of you."

"Well look at you. Now you're one of us." Naruto laughed as he ruffled her hair again only for her to slap his hand away and then try and tidy it up. Seeing the way she reacted he made a mental note of all the fun he could have annoying her by just playing with her hair. "Well since we're all going, what's the mission baa-chan?"

"Your mission will be to protect the client. You're to escort her to the fire capital, provide security and protection while there and when she's finished bring her back to the village." Tsunade explained as she took the mission scroll that Shizune handed to her and quickly read through it again. "Were not expecting any problems but because of who the client is this will be an A ranked mission."

Naruto fought the urge to cheer at being given a high ranked mission, though he couldn't stop himself from dancing goofily around, while Hanabi began to pale.

"Are you sure just the three of us will be okay on the mission. I'm sure Hanabi will be fine but she is inexperienced and you did say that the client was important." Hinata asked after seeing the nervous look on her sister's face after hearing that it was a high ranked mission.

Thinking back to her first mission, all her team had to do was a bit of gardening of an elderly couple and she'd been terrified of messing up. But that had been a simple D rank mission; this mission however could suddenly become extremely dangerous, especially for a genin's fist mission.

"Don't worry. I figured that you'd all take the mission so I'm sending another squad along with you. That way Hanabi can still get some experience out in the field and the protection of the client won't be compromised." Tsunade explained, trying to put the sister's minds at ease. Seeing that her words had the required affect she then turned to her first apprentice. "Shizune, send in the rest of the squad please.

Bowing her head Shizune quickly made her way to the door which she opened and then motioned for someone to enter.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto cheered with delight as he watched his young friend enter the room along with his teammates Udon and Moegi. "You're on this mission too?"

"I'm on a mission with your boss? That awesome!" he cheered as he quickly made his way towards Naruto and bumped fists with him while his teammates made themselves acquainted with the Hyuga sisters.

"Right, that's enough of that." Tsunade called out after giving them a few moments. "As I was saying earlier this is a high profile escort mission. Take her to the capital, keep her safe there then bring her back. And since he was requested personally, Naruto will be leading the squad." She said holding the scroll out to him.

"Really?" he asked as he took the scroll in. The only missions he'd ever been left in charge of were the ones were he was left alone to deal with small bandit camps or searching for lost cats. Finally he had the opportunity to show off his leadership skills.

"Well the rest of your team was requested but im still waiting for Sakura to return to the village and i want to keep kakashi around just incase anything happens." She explained. He was disappointed to hear that, as he knew Kakashi would have been incharge had he been available but despite that he still felt excited about the oppitunity.

As Hinata congratulated Naruto, Konohamaru slowly made his way towards the youngest person in the room. "Hi Hanabi." He said, giving her a feeble wave as he noticed the hitai-ate tied around her neck. "Hey! Did you graduate?" Hanabi however didn't appear impressed with him though as she just gave him grunt and turned her back to him, suddenly finding the pictures of the previous Hokage hanging on the wall very interesting.

"Aww come on. You're still not upset over what happened are you?" He asked as he tried to stand in front of her, only for her to keep turning away from her.

"No." She replied in a huff and she was about to hit him as he continued to invade her personal space when they were distracted by a knock at the door.

Tsunade called out for them to enter and Izumo and Kotetsu poked their heads through the door. "Excuse me Hokage-sama but your guest has arrived." Kotetsu said with a big smile on his face.

"Great, show her in." She told the chunin before turning to the shinobi already gathered in her office. "I'd like you all to meet our client for this mission.

At this, a slender woman walked through the door dressed in a light purple kimono with red and gold trimming. The girls looked on in disbelief while Konohamaru and Udon's jaws dropped as they recognised who it was.

"Koyuki Kazahana. Movie star and daimyo of the land of snow."

"Its princess gale." Moegi whispered excitedly to Udon who was cursing himself for not having a camera on him.

"Hey Koyuki, how've you been?" Naruto said as he started to make his way towards her only for Hinata to stop him.

"Na-Naruto, you can't speak to a daimyo like that." Hinata stuttered as she tried to admonish him but was still trying to get over the fact that they were going to responsible for someone so important ad famous.

"No, no that's ok. I'm fine thank you Naruto." Koyuki said, waving off Hinata's concerns before looking Naruto over. "You haven't changed have you?"

"I got taller, does that count?" He joked, causing her to hide a laugh behind her hand. "This is going to be so cool working with you again. You asked for me because I was so awesome last time didn't you?"

"Excuse me." Udon interrupted, as he rubbed his nose. "May I ask what it is you'll be doing in the capital?"

"She'll be promoting her new movie of course." A voice called out causing all the heads in the room to turn towards the door. There, stood a man with short grey hair, wearing black pants and blue body armour. "She'll be at the premiere, meet her fans and relax and unwind."

"And you are?" Tsunade asked as the man took up a position next to Koyuki.

"I am Kojima, head of Miss Kazahana's personal security."

"If your part of her security why do you need us?" Konohamaru asked.

"As Kojima said I'm her to relax and I figured that they could do with a break too." Koyuki explained as she pushed some stray hairs behind her ear. "So while I'm away in the capital, I'm leaving them behind here so they can have a vacation of their own."

"I still believe it's unwise for us not to go with you." Kojima muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Everything will be fine. You know if I had to guess I'd say you didn't want a holiday." She replied. She was greatful for everything Kojima and his men did, but they were so focused on their work that she had to wonder if any of them had a life outside of protecting her.

"Will we be leaving straight away?" Hinata asked after a moment of silence after it seemed that Kojima was willing to say why he was against having his security team replaced.

"No. I want to see some of this village of yours first, so I'll spend the day here and then tomorrow we'll leave." Koyuki explained as she ran her fingers through her dark hair. "That's when your mission will begin."

"Yes, we can still have the party." Naruto cheered happily as he pumped his fist in the air, before turning back to face Koyuki. "Hey you want to come, we've just moved in together in a new place so it's kind of a house warming party." He explained as he pointed to Hanabi while putting his arm around Hinata.

"Oh, so the two of you are together? I bet you make a cute couple." Koyuki asked as she looked at the two young adults stood together.

Hinata turned bright red at the suggestion while Naruto started coughing and chocking. "No, no, we just live together." He said when he finally caught his breath. Why did he feel embarrassed every time someone made a comment about the two of them?

"Oh, I'm sorry. "She apologized, believing she was wrong in her assumption. "And I'd love to come to the party; I'll get someone to point me in the direction of your home later." It'd been years since she'd been to a party that wasn't celebrating a holiday in her country or for one of her movies.

Kojima was about to voice his objections to the idea when Koyuki gave him a hard look which suggested that she wasn't in the mood to hear him complain. "If there isn't anything else, we should get going my lady. There is a lot to prepare for before you leave tomorrow and you did say you wanted to see the village first." He said after rethinking his thoughts.

"Just one thing." Naruto asked. "What time do you want to leave tomorrow?"

"I think it's best if we leave at about ten. That way we should have all recovered from the night before, ok." Koyuki replied looking forward to the party.

"Right then, ok guys we'll meet up here at nine. Make sure you're packed for a long trip" Naruto said, informing his squad. Then a large smile appeared on his face. "And don't forget the party starts at eight. I'll see you then."

And with that Koyuki and Kojima left the office to explore the village. Moegi and Udon soon followed behind them, heading home to pack for the mission while excitedly talking amongst themselves about the famous client they would be protecting as Konohamaru speared a quick look at Hanabi before following suit. As everyone was exiting the room Naruto turned to the Hokage. "Is there anything else baa-can?"

"Just remember to read the mission scroll, and don't do anything stupid. Don't make me regret putting you in charge." She replied while pointing to the scroll he held in his hand.

"Will do." He said, giving her a playful salute before making his way out the office with the Hyuga sisters, but stopped when he heard Tsunade call out.

"Naruto, this party of yours, will there be sake?"

Naruto looked back at her with a wide smile on his face. "It's a party, of course there will be." He laughed and walked out the room leaving Shizune to deal with a Hokage that was now bouncing off the walls at the idea of getting plastered.


	8. Life Of The Party Part 1

"Yo, Naruto where's the booze?" Kiba asked loudly as Naruto opened the front door to greet him.

"Shouldn't you say hello first?" He asked as he stepped aside letting him into the house. Rather than wait for an answer though, Kiba started making his way past him with Akumaru by his side only to be stopped by a hand grabbing him by the collar. "Is he clean?" Naruto asked pointing to the large white dog.

"Of course he is" Kiba laughed as he pulled himself free of Naruto's grip and headed into the house in search of alcohol, while Akamaru remained, waiting to see if he'd be allowed to stay.

Naruto shook his head in disbelief at Kiba's action before waving the dog on his way, letting him know he could stay. With a happy howl he quickly set off in search of his master, as Naruto went to close the door. Before he could close it though a hand quickly appeared, blocking it from closing. Curious of whom it was he opened the door again to find Shino standing there.

"Oh hi Shino, you want to come in?" He asked pulling the door back open and holding it for him to enter.

"You didn't notice me again."

"Oh don't start that again." The blonde moaned. From the moment he'd returned from his training with Jairiya, Shino seemed to hold a grudge against him from the one time he hadn't recognised him, it wasn't his fault that the guy tended to stand silently in the background. When Shino continued to stand silently outside the house, he decided to just leave the door open, sure that he'd come inside once he'd finished moping, when he noticed him holding a box covered in purple wrapping paper. "You got me a house warming gift?"

"No, this is not for you." Shino stoically replied as he pulled the box away from Naruto as he tried to grab it. "This is Hinata's. It was left with us when you picked her up from our last mission; this is the first opportunity I've had to return it to her."

"Oh, well Hinata's in the back." He replied a little disappointed that he wasn't getting a gift as he pointed towards the back of the house. Shino acknowledged him with a quick nod then entered the house to find his teammate.

* * *

The kitchen was bustling with action. Choji stood at the buffet table trying the different foods that had been prepared, while Ino admonished him, telling him to leave some for everyone else. Shikamaru was resting on a counter watching the clouds go by through an open window while sipping from his drink, and sat quietly at the side of the room listening to the music was Hinata.

"This is good food." Choji said approvingly as he finished off a sandwich. "I'm guessing you did the food Hinata? If Naruto had done it I'm sure he'd of just ordered ramen for everyone, right?"

Hinata started laughing. "Your right, he was going to get Ichiraku's to cater the party. He was so disappointed when I stopped him, but he didn't mind as much when I said I'd do it."

"That's my girl; you've got him under your thumb now haven't you." Ino laughed as she put her arm around the girl and pulled her close before quickly snapping a picture of the two of them.

"No it's not like that. I just told him that ramen wasn't something you serve at a party and he was ok with that." She tried explaining, not wanting her friends to believe that she would try to control Naruto now that they lived together.

Ino however just laughed it off. "Don't worry, I was just kidding, we know you wouldn't do anything like that, especially with Naruto." She said with a large smile as Hinata's cheeks started to turn red.

Before Hinata could reply though, Akamaru darted into the room, before coming to a stop at her feet. "Hello Akamaru. Are you feeling better?" She asked him as she scratched him behind the ear, glad for the excuse to change the subject as the dog happily barked back at her.

Ino however wasn't about to let the subject of Naruto drop and was about to mention him again when Kiba walked in. "Where's the booze?" He asked to no one in particular as he looked around the room.

"Most people say hello first." Shikamaru said closing his eyes in frustration, knowing that now that Kiba had arrived the calm atmosphere he'd been enjoying would quickly disappear.

"You sound just like Naruto when I got here." Kiba scoffed back at him, before turning to Hinata with a feral smile. "Hey Hinata, you ok?"

Hinata just laughed to herself, after all Kiba was just being himself. "Hi Kiba, thanks I'm fine. The drink is over there." She said pointing to a table filled with bottles. Ino shook her head at the way he seemed to skip gleefully to the table and poured himself a drink. The way he was acting she was beginning to wonder if he was an alcoholic.

"It would appear that Kiba has finally found the alcohol." Shino said as he walked into the room to see him down a drink before pouring himself another one.

"Hello Shino." Hinata said with a warm smile as she got up from her seat to give him a hug which he returned.

"It is good to see you looking well, how have you been?" He asked, after not being able to see her since the funeral of her family.

"I'm fine thank you. It seems a little surreal with everything that's happened but we're settling in well with Naruto. He's made us feel very welcomed." She explained, grateful for the help he'd given to her and her sister.

"Yes, however he did seem disappointed that this was not a gift for him." Shino said as he held the box he'd been carrying out before him for her to see.

"Is that..."

"Yes. This is the item you bought while on our last mission together. You had left it behind when you were forced to leave."

"Thank you Shino." She said as she took the box from him and hugged him once more. "I can't believe I'd forgotten all about it."

"It is understandable that you would have forgotten it, given the circumstances."

"Well it may be late, but at least now I can give Hanabi here birthday present." She said grateful that despite everything that had happened, she could still do something for her sisters birthday, despite being over a week late.

"Well I'm glad I could be of help. Now if you'll excuse me I'll leave you to entertain your other guests while I stop Kiba from drinking all the alcohol." Shino said as he motioned to their teammate who by this time was starting on his second bottle of sake.

* * *

"Hey guys glad you could make it." Naruto said excitedly as he opened the front door to let Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi in.

"Well why wouldn't we boss, it's always cool to hang out with you." Konohamaru said as he led the group in.

"And we get to see your new place." Udon said as he looked around the hallway in awe, realising just home much bigger the place was compared to the old apartment Naruto used to live in.

"We got you a gift." Moegi said as she reached into one of her pouches and pulled out a bottle.

"Thanks." The blonde said as he took the bottle from her and gave it a quick look over. "Sake? How'd you get this?" He asked curious to know how they got the drink since they were under age.

"Transformation jutsu, the clerk never realised." She replied with a smile. "We were going to get you a plant but we figured I'd just die with no one around to water it while we're away on the mission.

"Glad to see you guys are practicing your skills." The blonde laughed as he tossed the bottle to Udon, before pointing to the back of the house. "You mind putting this with the others in the kitchen?"

"Sure thing boss." He replied as he adjusted his glasses as he made his way further into the house with Moegi following besides him. Konohamaru however stayed behind with Naruto.

"This place looks so much better than your old place." The young Sarutobi said as he continued to look around the house. "The place is so big I bet you could get lost around here."

"Yea, earlier I got confused and went into Hinata's room by mistake." He laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. "I'm glad she wasn't in there, though Hanabi did see me leaving the room, I'm not sure if she believed me when I said I wasn't peeking."

"Don't worry boss I'm sure she didn't think you were trying to peek at her panties or anything."

Naruto's face started to turn red at the comment, as his thoughts immediately turned back to the events of the day before. Luckily before Konohamaru could question why he'd suddenly gone red, a voice called out to them.

"What is he doing here?"

The boys looked up the stairs to see Hanabi standing at the top, and staring daggers at the young Sarutobi.

"Hi Hanabi, you look nice" Konohamaru said, commenting on the light green dress she was wearing, hoping she'd enjoy the compliment.

"Don't give me that." She snapped back at him, as she made her war down to the bottom of the stairs before coming to a stop in front of him. "What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"I invited him, remember? You were there." Naruto explained, as he watched the young girl continue to glare at the boy, making him wonder why she was acting so hostile towards him. Hinata had told him stories about the temper that she had, but this was the first time he was seeing it.

"See." Konohamaru replied a cheeky smile as Naruto backed him up. "You should really let bygones be bygones."

"Is Hinata in the kitchen?" Hanabi asked Naruto, choosing to ignore the boy talking to her turning her back to him. Taken aback by her attitude Naruto just nodded his head and Hanabi quickly took off towards the back of the house.

Naruto turned to face Konohamaru who had been watching Hanabi leave and as soon as she closed the door between them spoke. "Ok, so what exactly happened to make her act like that towards you?"

"Erm its nothing boss, don't worry about it." The boy said and quickly tried to leave, only to be forcefully stopped by a foot stepping on his long scarf that had been trailing along the floor.

"It can't be nothing if she's acting like this." Naruto laughed as Konohamaru looked back at him before his voice turned more serious. "And we've got that mission tomorrow so we all need to work together, and I don't want to fail my first mission in charge just because the two of you can't get along."

Konohamaru sighed in defeat. "Ok boss. It was a couple of months ago when it happened. I was asked by her father to spar with her for a while. Said he wanted to put her up against someone with a different style to the Hyuga she normally trained with so he could see how she'd do. I thought it'd be fun so I agreed. Boy was I wrong. She was like a man possessed in our match, she kept on top of me continuously and when I did fine openings to strike back I couldn't."

"Why not? Were you enjoying being beaten up by a girl?" Naruto laughed as he pictured Hanabi assaulting Konohamaru.

"No it's not that." He said defensively. "It's just I didn't want to hurt her."

"You were sparring. You're supposed to hurt each other a little."

"Yea but I didn't want to hurt her so much in case I made father angry. I mean come on boss, that guy was totally scary.

Naruto nodded along in agreement. While he'd only gotten to know Hiashi in the hospital before he'd passed away, the front he'd presented when he'd seen the man around the village to him screamed 'anger me and you will pay.' And the story's Hinata had told him about her father when he was angry only seemed to back that opinion up further. He briefly wondered if he was where Hanabi got her own bad temper. "Ok so you went easy on her. That's why she hates you?" He asked.

"No she hates me because I used the sexy jutsu on her."

"You what?" The blond asked in disbelief, sure that he had misheard what had been said.

"I panicked ok. I couldn't hit her with a fire jutsu or a rasangan could I, so when I saw an opening I transformed. She was so surprised I was able to tackle her down and restrain her long enough for her father to end the match and call me the winner." Konohamaru explained as he watched Naruto cover his mouth in a feeble attempt to stop himself from laughing.

"So that's it then?" Naruto said, as fought and failed to control his laughter which filling the hallway. "She hates you because you beat her with the sexy jutsu?"

"Yea, she complained saying I'd cheated but Hiashi said I'd won within the rules, so she kicked me in the... You know, and she hasn't spoken to me since." Konohamaru said as he covered himself up as he remembered the painful memory.

"Well I guess it could have been worse, she could have jukened you there." Naruto said as he patted the boy on the back who was now feeling extremely grateful that it'd only been a kick. "We'll just have to find a way to make you friends again wont we.

Konohamaru nodded in agreement.

* * *

"I can't believe he showed up" Hanabi complained as she stomped her way into the kitchen and up to her sister who was talking with Ino.

"Who?" Ino asked as she took a sip of her drink.

"Konohamaru." She huffed as she grabbed a drink of her own and gulped it down.

"Why, what's wrong with Konohamaru? Wasn't he invited?" The blonde asked, surprised to see the young girl acting in such a manner.

"She's mad at him for using the sexy jutsu on her." Hinata explained when it became apparent that her sister wasn't going to tell her. She loved her sister dearly, but even she'd had enough of her sister's complaints of how she'd been cheated.

"Really?" Ino said with a raised eyebrow. "Did you like what you saw?"

She quickly spat her drink out of her mouth in surprise as her cheeks turned red in embarrassment at the suggestion. "What, no. I'm not into that kind of thing.

"He's tried to apologise a few times but she keeps refusing to accept it." Hinata said as she remembered the young boy visiting the Hyuga compound for several days after the spar trying to apologise, only for her sister to lock herself away in her room in defiance.

"Well maybe she's just using it as an excuse because she really likes him." Ino laughed as she pulled the girl close to her so she could tease her. "Does someone have a crush on little Kono?"

"No, why would I like a boy like him?" Hanabi said defensively as she pulled herself free from Ino's grip. "He's gross and annoying, and he wears that stupid scarf of his all year round."

"Well you wouldn't be the first Hyuga to like someone who wears something different." Ino said with a sly smile on her face as she turned towards the older Hyuga who quickly turned red at just the mention of the orange clad man.

"I don't like him just because of his clothes." She said as she tried to defend her choice of Naruto. "His bright clothes might be loud like him, but there's more to him than that."

"Yea, yea, we know. He's strong, caring and always willing to help others. We've heard it all before sis." Hanabi muttered having heard her sister defend the blonde several times when the clan elders made disparaging comments about him. "You sound like a broken record when it comes to Naruto."

"Now, now, she's just being protective of her man. You'd do the same with Konohamaru too I bet if you weren't so stubborn to see that you like him." Ino pointed out, only for the small girl to glare at her.

"I don't like, hey what's that?" said Hanabi, ready to argue with Ino that she didn't like the boy when Hinata suddenly pulled out a wrapped box which grabbed her attention.

"It's your birthday present. I know it's late, but I didn't forget." She said glad she was able to distract her sister from arguing with Ino about boys, a subject the Yamanaka was very passionate about.

"This is so cool. What is it?" Hanabi asked as her eyes lit up with joy as she quickly took the item from her sister and started ripping the paper off. Once the paper was torn off she placed the box on top of a unit and opened the lid. A large smile appeared on her face as she saw the contents. "A karaoke machine!"

"Yes, now you can sing at home instead of us having to go out all the time." Hinata laughed as her sister leapt at her, almost knocking her to the floor as she hugged her. "If you want, maybe we could set it up later?"

Hanabi quickly agreed.

* * *

"So what's it like then?"

"What's what like?" Naruto asked back not understanding the question.

"What's it like living with the girls?" Shikamaru explained as he poured two drinks before giving one to Naruto.

"Oh that. It's ok I guess."

"It's ok you guess?" Kiba questioned as he lent on the blonde for support, the alcohol he'd been drinking finally starting to have an effect on him.

"Well, we've only been lived together for a day."

"Yea but you and Hinata were alone together in your old place for like a week and now there's Hanabi."

Naruto just looked at him confused; having no idea what it was Kiba was trying to get at. "So what's your point?"

"Well everyone's talking about how the great hero of the leaf and eligible bachelor Uzamaki Naruto is now living with the beautiful and single Hyuga sisters. Rumour around the village is your starting your very own harem." Kiba explained, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"What? No!" Naruto said shocked at the idea.

Shikamaru just shook his head in disbelief t Kiba's comment. "That's your teammate and her sister you're talking about."

"Like I said it's just a rumour." Kiba said defensively. "The girls think it's all a part of the clan restoration act since your new status was made public. I bet they'll be knocking down your door soon enough, asking if they can join."

"The clan resto... No I'm not." He said quickly as the conversation he'd had with Tsunade about what the act was came to mind. His first thought about it had been that Jairaya would have done anything to be in this position, surrounded by women. But after being chased around the village by all the fan girls he'd gained through all his exploits, the idea of them wanting even more of him kind of scared him. "Cant a guy just live with two girls?"

Kiba shook his head. "Of course not. You can't tell me that nothing's happened since you've moved in together."

Naruto's face quickly turned red as his mind immediately turned to when he'd seen Hinata's underwear and caught her coming out of the bathroom. Despite his inebriated state Kiba was quick to notice, a feral smile appearing on his face.

"You dog, something has happened. Come on what was it?"

Naruto quickly went on the defensive. "No, nothing happened. Why would you say that?"

"Because you've gone all red." Shikamaru said mildly amused at Naruto's embarrassment after taking a long sip of his sake,

"It's nothing. I'm just getting used to living with other people. I've always lived by myself, never having to share, so it's something new." Naruto said as he tried to cover his burning cheeks as he tried to find a way out of the conversation.

"What about the time you spent travelling with Jairaya?" Shikamaru asked, normally he wouldn't have care, but after travelling with the legendary sannin for over two year how could he not be used to sharing.

"That was different. We usually camped out because of all the travelling, and when we did stay in a hotel I usually had the place to myself since pervy sage kept going out to the bars and hot springs to do his research.

That's it, you were doing your own research weren't you?" said Kiba with a large grin, everyone knew that when it came to Jiraiya research was codeword of peeping on women.

"No, it was an accident. I didn't mean to peep on Hinata, and she was dressed in her towel so it..." He stopped speaking, and the colour drained from his face as he realised what he had said. He hadn't meant to tell them about the incident.

"What!" Kiba shouted after spitting his drink out, showering Shikamaru. "When?"

"I was going for a shower and I bumped into her as she was coming out." He tried to explain, hoping they'd believe him; he didn't want to be labelled a pervert. "It was an accident."

"I bet it was." Kiba laughed as Akamaru barked along, as though agreeing with him.

"It was! I'd never do something like that to Hinata." Naruto argued back, his voice raised, angry that his friend didn't believe him.

"And why's that?" Kiba asked, unfazed by the blonde's sudden outburst.

"Because I..." He started to say but stopped as he struggled to find an answer. Thinking back to when he was younger he'd tried peeking on the women in the hot springs many times, and he'd of jumped at the chance to see Sakura wrapped up in just a towel back then too. But with Hinata it was different; he just couldn't understand why it was different. "I wouldn't do that to her." He finally said after failing to think of a better answer, though he knew it sounded lame.

"Leave him alone Kiba. You know what he's like when it comes to Hinata." Shikamaru said, trying to get the dog nin to back down.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The blonde asked.

"Nothing." Shikamaru said hoping that Naruto wouldn't question him anymore. Kiba however had no problems filling him in.

"It's the way you act around her; she's more than just one of the guys isn't she?" He said gesturing wildly, his arms waving about him. Before he could say any more though, Choji who had been listening in to the conversation quickly came up behind him and slapped his hand across his mouth before he could speak any further.

"He just means that the two of you have become closer friends." Choji explained quickly as he fought Kiba who was struggling against him to get free. Thankfully the doorbell rang and with an apology Naruto left them to go answer the door. As soon as he was out the room the members of team Asuma turned to face Kiba.

"I thought we'd been over this. We weren't going to say anything to him. We'd agreed to let him work I out for himself." The Nara said unimpressed that Kiba had almost told him that everyone knew he liked Hinata, even if he didn't realise it himself.

"I know." Kiba whined, sounding like a dog as he pulled himself free from Chogi. "But he's so dense it's going to take him forever to figure it out."

* * *

Stepping out the kitchen Naruto closed the door behind him, the words of his friends still playing in his mind. Was he really different when around Hinata? Before he could think about it further though, he suddenly found blue haired girl in the hallway. "Hey Hinata, what are you doing out here?"

Hinata jumped at the sound of his voice and quickly turned around to face him. "I heard the doorbell, and you were talking so I thought I'd answer the door." She explained feeling embarrassed that he'd caught her by surprise.

"Oh well you can go back to the girls if you want and I'll get it."

"No, no, I'll get it. It looked like you were talking about something important." She said as she tried to get him to rejoin the party when the bell was rang again. The two looked at each other for a moment before they started to laugh, realising that it was silly for the two of them to be fighting over who answered the door.

"How about we both go then?" Naruto asked and before Hinata could agree he put his arm around her waist and walked her to the door. Her cheeks started to turn red at the intimacy of the way he held her close to him, even though the contact was just between friends she always enjoyed it and was sure that she'd never get used to it. But all too soon it ended as he removed his arm from her to open the door. Luckily her disappointment quickly disappeared when she saw who was on the other side of the door.

"Aunty Hinata!" A small girl called out when the door was opened and quickly ran inside, darting between Naruto's legs before leaping into the arms of Hinata.

"Hello Naoko." Hinata laughed as she held the small girl close to her chest. "How have you been? Have you been good for your mommy?"

"Yea we went to the park and we saw the pretty butterflies then I had a big ice cream." She animatedly explained, her big red eyes filled with joy as she recounted the day's events as Hinata put her back down. When she'd finished the small girl turned to Naruto. "Who are you mister?"

"That's Naruto, he lives here with Hinata. I told you remember?" Kurenai said as she stepped into the house and picked her daughter up, resting her on her hip. "I hope you don't mind me bring Naoko, I couldn't find a babysitter."

"No its fine, your both welcome." Naruto said as he looked the girl over, he hadn't seen her since she was a small baby in her mother's arms.

"Thank you. We won't be staying too long. I just wanted to make sure the three of you were settling in alright." She explained as her child started to bounce around, trying to get her mother to put her back down so she could explore the large house. Struggling to maintain her grip on her daughter Kurenai put Naoko back down, but as soon as her feet touched the ground she quickly ran off to the kitchen where she'd heard the sound of Akumaru barking. Apologising for her daughter's actions Kurenai quickly chased after her with Hinata close behind.

Naruto watched as everyone entered the kitchen, shaking his head in amusement before turning back to the door, but before his hand could touch the handle a stern voice called out to him. "Don't you dare close that door gaki!"

Looking out the doorway he was greeted to the sight of Tsunade and Shizune walking down the garden path alongside Koyuki Kazahana, with Kojima and two other men in armour quickly following behind them.

"Hey I'm glad you could make it." He called out, holding the door open wide for everyone to enter. Tsunade and Shizune walked straight in, but Koyuki stopped at the door, her guards flanking her.

"Thank you for the invitation, I didn't want to come empty handed so I brought this." Said Koyuki as she took a bottle from one of her guards and handed it to the blonde who gave it a funny look as he read the label. "Its wine. It's like sake but has a fruity flavour." She explained, seeing the confusion on his face as he tried to work out what it was. "It's very popular back home."

"Thanks." He said, looking back at the bottle. Almost everyone at the party from Shikamaru to Konohamaru had brought a bottle of alcohol as a gift. They had so many bottle's that he was sure it would take them months to finish off, especially since he'd never really enjoyed the taste of sake. But he'd never tried wine before, maybe he'd like it.

"Hey! Are you going to invite her in or what?" Tsunade called out breaking him from his musings, as he hadn't realised that he'd left her standing outside the door. Feeling like an idiot he stepped aside, invited her in.

"Are you sure about this m lady? We don't know any of the people inside, you should let us check the place out first for any threats." Kojima said with a stern look on his face, stopping her before she had a chance to enter.

"We're ninja; we're supposed to be a threat." Naruto joked.

Kojima however wasn't impressed with the joke. "All the more reason for her not to be here."

"Kojima, I understand that you're concerned about Lady Koyuki's safety, but this is a ninja village. So by that logic you shouldn't have even come here." Tsunade said as she took her green coat off and handed it to Shizune who immediately went in search of somewhere to hang it. Straightening her kimono she turned back to Kojima. "However you did come to the village so we could provide you with protection, so if you don't believe she will be safe in a building with the squad that'll be guarding her, some of the strongest shinobi in the village, as well as myself, then maybe you need to look somewhere else for protection."

"See I'll be fine." Koyuki said as she almost skipped into the house, enjoying the look on Kojima's face as he was put in his place. He tried to follow her inside but before he could, it was her turn to bar his way. "Just for that you can stand guard outside. As the Hokage said there are plenty of people here that can keep me safe, so if you're so concerned about my safety then you can guard the outside of this place." And with that she closed the door, slamming it in his face.

Shizune watched in astonishment at the almost carefree way that Koyuki had dismissed her head of security while Tsunade nodded approvingly as the daimyo turned them with a big smile on her face. "Right, shall we have some fun then.


End file.
